Facebook shuts down 3 mobile apps (tbh, Hello, Moves) over low usage
Facebook has announced that it is shutting down three of its least popular mobile apps – Hello (a caller ID tool), tbh (a teen polling app)and Moves (a fitness tracker). The latter two were acquired by Facebook, while Hello was a first-party, Android-only app during its lifespan.
In a blog post, Facebook explains that it “regularly reviews” its applications to see which ones people use the most and that these reviews sometimes lead to the shutdown of less popular applications.
While the company decision may upset users of these apps, it has no other choice. The company did not mention any privacy concerns, but the apps listed all operate using potentially sensitive data — address book syncing fills out those “shadow profiles” Zuckerberg tried to avoid discussing, and an anonymous app for teens could be tricky to operate post-GDPR. Updating technology and policies for apps that are not attracting users just does not make sense.
Perhaps most notable is the shutdown of the fitness tracking Moves application, which Facebook acquired in April of 2014 as Apple’s own push into health and fitness tracking picked up steam. Moves will shut down on July 31st.
Facebook is scrubbing user data for all three within 90 days, but the apps will likely stop working before that. Facebook will deprecate Moves and its programming kit on July 31st, while Hello is facing a similar fate in “a few weeks”.
Here is the announcement from FB Newsroom
We wanted to let you know that we are shutting down three apps due to low usage: Moves, tbh and Hello.
- We launched Hello in 2015 for people using Android in Brazil, the US and Nigeria. It enables people to combine information from Facebook with contact information on their phone. We will be deprecating Hello in a few weeks.
- In 2014, we bought the fitness app Moves. It records your daily activity – including walking, cycling and running. We’re deprecating the Moves app and Moves API on July 31.
- Facebook acquired tbh in 2017. It’s an anonymous social media app for high school students in the US.
Facebook will delete the user data from all three of these apps within 90 days.
We regularly review our apps to assess which ones people value most. Sometimes this means closing an app and its accompanying APIs. We know some people are still using these apps and will be disappointed – and we’d like to take this opportunity to thank them for their support. But we need to prioritize our work so we don’t spread ourselves too thin. And it’s only by trial and error that we’ll create great social experiences for people.