Facebook Flash, A Snapchat-Like App For Emerging Markets, Unveiled: Report

Facebook has been trying to compete with Snapchat for some time now — the company has tried to acquire Snapchat-like services and recently launched Live app filters similar to Snapchat Lenses. Its newest attempt at competing with the rival app is Flash — a lightweight app equipped with Snapchat-like filters designed for emerging markets, Recode reported Tuesday.

The report added that Flash would consume less than 25MB RAM — almost one-third of Snapchat’s app for Google Pixel. Facebook’s core app is 54MB on the same phone. Snapchat is already clocking 60 million daily users in the U.S. and Canada.

The app was launched for Android devices with Brazil being the first market to get the feature. Other markets where the feature would be launched haven’t been disclosed yet. The company hasn’t decided on it yet, George Wang, product manager at Facebook, reportedly said.

At Facebook’s earnings call last week, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: “In most social apps today, a text box is still the default way we share. Soon, we believe a camera will be the main way that we share.”

The social networking giant was reported in October to be testing smartphone camera features similar to Snapchat, Recode reported. It is expected to include facial mask effects, which would disappear after a while. This feature too had a limited launch specifically for Ireland and still hasn’t been made available in other countries.