Facebook is no longer running against Snapchat with Poke, as it pulled the plug on the iOS app along with the standalone Camera app.
Facebook, the world's largest social networking service, has pulled the plug on two of its iOS mobile apps, Poke and Camera. Both apps are no longer available on Apple App Store and the help pages related to Poke and Camera apps are down as well.
According to The Verge, which first noticed the removals, Poke and Camera apps were launched two years ago in a bid to compete against Snapchat and photo-sharing app Instagram. The loss of Facebook Camera comes as little surprise as the social network acquired the rival service for $715 million in April 2012. The app making it so far on its own despite the Instagram acquisition is quite a surprise.
As for the Poke app, which was launched in December 2012, Facebook tried hard to beat Snapchat with a self-destructive feature for texts, images and videos. Users can set a timer for the messages to disappear after 1, 3, 5 or 10 seconds. Poke was less popular compared to Camera app, which offered filters and ability to upload multiple photos to the social network.
The decision to remove Poke app from App Store follows a recent Snapchat blunder. The mobile messaging service entered into a consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission over claims of deceiving its customers about the self-destructive messaging feature. The commission found that the service was not upfront about the data it collected and stored on its servers. As a result of the action, FTC alerted other companies offering similar services to refrain from misleading customers or face severe penalties. Guess we will never know what happened behind the curtains on Facebook-owned Poke app for iOS.
Of late, Facebook has been spending some time on unbundling its core functions in to standalone apps so they get their share of popularity. With the latest move, it appears the social networking giant is making room for some new apps by shutting down the old ones.
P.S. The Poke feature on Facebook web remains functional.
