According to Facebook’s announcement last March 2, the new version of Messenger will load twice as fast and one-fourth of its original size on iOS devices. The new version is expected to roll out over the next few weeks.

Project LightSpeed

Facebook called this redesigning as the “Project LightSpeed” where it is rewriting the messenger’s codebase for a faster, smaller, and simpler message app.

Upgraded Qualities of the Redesigned Messenger

This new iOS version of Messenger is Faster, Smaller, and Simpler compared to the old version. 

How Facebook Made the Redesigning Possible

• By using the native OS
• Reusing the UI with dynamic templates powered by SQLite
• Using SQLite as a universal system
• Building a server broker to operate as a universal gateway between Messenger and its server features

You can read more details on the Engineering Blog of Facebook.

Messenger’s Core Code

The iOS version of Messenger is twice as fast to start and is one-fourth of the size compared to the previous version. The Messenger’s core code which was originally more than 1.7 M lines was reduced to 360,000 meaning a total of 84 percent was reduced.

Unavailable Features Due to Redesigning

For the new upgrade, some features of the Messenger will be unavailable but Facebook is working on it to bring it back as soon as possible. 

More than Just Making Messenger Faster, Simpler and Smaller

According to Facebook’s announcement, the lightspeed project is not just about redesigning the app to fasten its speed but it also lays the foundation to fulfill their vision of Private Messaging and Interoperability Across Apps.