Facebook has retired two apps, Groups and Lifestage, the latter a social networking platform mainly for high schoolers, which failed to get traction since its release last year.
Lifestage was Facebook's attempt to capture a chunk of teens who favored Snapchat, but Facebook has now decided to nix it, presumably because it didn't really work. It's no wonder why many aren't familiar with Lifestage, seeing as how it failed to reach the App Store's top charts. An Android version was released in October 2016.
Only users aged over 21 were allowed to join the app, although that rule was easily bypassed, causing some privacy concerns. Content shared on Lifestage was always public, meaning anyone can view it.
Facebook Nixes Lifestage But Has Learned A Lot From It
Facebook pulled Lifestage from the App Store on Aug. 4, and the shutdown went unnoticed for a couple of days before Business Insider confirmed the news. Its last update was released in October 2016, so that should have given everyone a clue as to where Facebook's priorities are.
Lifestage allowed users to search for their local high school and discover classmates, then chat with each other primarily through photos or videos, hence why it's been most often compared with Snapchat. Facebook launched it in August 2016.
Despite the shutdown, Facebook said Lifestage wasn't entirely a failed experiment. A spokesperson said that Facebook has learned a lot from the app and will probably implement that knowledge into the main Facebook app somehow. With Facebook Stories already available for all, it's easy to imagine Facebook implementing some of Lifestage's features.
The move makes sense. As Facebook slowly becomes more like Snapchat, it probably made no sense to continue supporting Lifestage — especially if there weren't that many users on it, to begin with.
Facebook Kills Its Standalone Groups App
It's not only Lifestage that received the axe. Groups, an app Facebook launched in 2014 for iOS and Android, has also been shut down.
"Because we're focusing on groups in the main Facebook app and on facebook.com, we are discontinuing the Facebook Groups app for iOS and Android," said Facebook. Starting Sept. 1, no one will be able to log in to the Facebook Groups app. The company encourages everyone to browse their groups using the main app or the website instead.
Did you like Lifestage? What can you say about its shutdown? Similarly, any thoughts on Facebook killing its Groups app? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
