Facebook app store is now two apps fewer given that the Lifestage and Groups app has been killed. None of the apps are being sorely missed either, which again should serve as the reason why the apps have been canceled in the first place.
Facebook too isn’t making any noise on the development but confirmed the apps have been removed. The company has however stated a lot of things that the apps stood for will be incorporated within the main social media platform. It’s just that the two apps won’t have an independent identity of their own.
For instance, Facebook does not need an app like Lifestage anymore to take on Snapchat given that Instagram would be better suited to do that. Lifestage was launched as a video centric social media channel built for the teens in particular. In fact, the age anyone would be legally entitled to have a Lifestage account maxed out at 21.
However, that age restriction never got enforced as strictly as it was made to look like. Further, all of the Lifestage contents were easily accessible to almost anyone. It wasn’t that well maintained either, with updates coming few and far in between. The last update was rolled out on Oct. 2016 and was never anywhere near the top at the Apple App Store. It never made it to the Google Play Store as well.
Further, Facebook seems to have changed its tact in between to take on Snapchat. Instead of developing an app to counter Snapchat, it thought it wiser to rip off several of Snapchat’s best features and integrating them to Instagram. No wonder, Instagram has gone on to garner daily user count of 250 million compared to 166 million for Snapchat.
Similar with the Groups app which ceased to have an independent existence though the company’s emphasis on Facebook Groups will continue to be just as strong. It’s just that Facebook thought they don’t need to have a separate app for the same.
The social networking giant had earlier launched Groups app as a means of facilitating inter-communication within those in a group. While that is nice, it is the ultimate execution of the thought process that stalled the progress.
For instance, a news feed showing the latest that members of the group have posted was missing.
Then there was no way one could organize the groups as well for ease of access.
However, as with Lifestage, the main features would still be incorporated in the central Facebook platform.
