Google is ending support for the so-called “Lite Mode” of the Chrome browser on Android. Lite Mode is also known as “Data Saver”: it reduces the size of the data that needs to be loaded to display a website. At the end of March, the M100 version of Chrome will be released, which will no longer support Lite Mode for the first time.
Google announced the step in a support post for the Chrome browser. The update without Lite Mode will appear on March 29. As a reason, Google cites falling data volume costs in many countries. In addition, in recent years other improvements have been integrated into Chrome that reduce data consumption.
“In recent years, we have seen mobile data costs drop in many countries,” write google in the input. “Even though we’re saying goodbye to Lite Mode, we’re still striving to have fast-loading websites in Chrome.”
Data saving with HTTPS
Google first introduced what was then known as Lite “Data Saver” mode for Chrome in 2014. To reduce the amount of data, Chrome first uploads a large portion of it to a Google server, where it is compressed. Only then are the pages processed by Google rendered on the smartphone. This should save data volume and speed up website loading; according to Google, this should reduce the data load by up to 90 percent.
For a long time, this method had the disadvantage that it only worked with unencrypted websites. Finally, in 2019, Google introduced the ability to reduce HTTPS websites via the proxy method as well. This method was used with slow 2G connections or wait times of more than 5 seconds before showing the first content. In Lite Mode there is also an option to completely disable image uploading.
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