8 Useful Apps that Got the Axe, Will be Sorely Missed
It’s a bummer when the developer decides to shut down a useful service, app, or software product that you’ve grown to like.
This is the case with the apps and services presented below. This is a list of products that we’ll never get to use because they’ve been or will be discontinued, retired, or shut down.
younited – F-Secure’s personal cloud hosting service
On October 1, 2015, security company F-secure discontinued younited, it’s personal cloud storage service for Windows, Windows Phone, Mac OS X, iOS and Android.
Younited used to offer a secure means of storing and sharing photos, videos, documents and other digital content. When F-Secure introduced younited, it presented it as Finland’s red-hot alternative to US-based cloud services, describing it as a bold new personal content cloud service that offers a fun, engaging experience with rock-solid privacy and security.
The thing that was great about younited was that you could link it to other cloud services. This meant you could access your Facebook, Dropbox and Picasa files from younited.
By discontinuing younited, F-Secure can better focus its resources on Freedome, the VPN service that keeps you safe, invisible, and untrackable.
Sunrise – The good looking calendar app
The Sunrise calendar apps hasn’t been discontinued just yet, but it will be soon. The long story is detailed here. The short story goes something like this: Microsoft acquired Sunrise and got the Sunrise team working on making Outlook better. The Sunrise team is so busy working on Outlook that it doesn’t have time to work on updates; consequently, Sunrise updates won’t be released anymore. Microsoft wants to integrate Sunrise into Outlook and then pull Sunrise from the market.
And speaking about Microsoft, do you know that Microsoft announced plans to discontinue unlimited OneDrive cloud storage? Microsoft’s reaction to “a small number of users” uploading too much data to OneDrive was to:
5GB of cloud storage space just isn’t enough. No matter, there are plenty of other cloud services out there. Not Dump Truck tough.
Dump Truck – Golden Frog’s secure online storage service
On December 19, 2015, Golden Frog will discontinue Dump Truck, its cloud storage service for Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, Android, and the web.
By signing up for a Dump Truck account, you got 5GB of cloud storage space for free. By getting the Dump Truck application, you could easily upload files to the cloud and keep them synced across all your platforms. Just like Dropbox, Dump Truck created a special folder; all the files you put inside that folder were automatically uploaded to the cloud and synced across all your devices.
Once Dump Truck is no more, Golden Frog will focus its efforts on the other two products it has to offer: VyprVPN, the fast and highly secure personal VPN service, and Cypher, the easy-to-use encrypted messaging app for Android and iOS.
Helpouts – Google’s live video service
On April 20, 2015, Google discontinued Helpouts, the live video service that promised to offer “real help from real people in real time”.
Helpouts seemed like a good idea when Google introduced it, back in 2013. A live video service meant to provide real help to real people in real time. If you needed help with something, you could use Helpouts to connect to someone who could lend a helping hand. Say you needed help with a computer problem for example. With Helpouts you could connect via real-time video to a technician who could help you fix the problem.
The thing is that Helpouts wasn’t as successful as Google hoped it would be. Consequently, Google decided to pull the plug on the whole thing.
Songza – The free, curated playlist service
Google is also shutting down Songza, the streaming music service and music lifestyle company it acquired in 2014. Songza will be discontinued on January 31, 2016 and all Songza users will be moved to Google Play Music. Speaking of which, it’s worth noting that most of Songza’s features have already been incorporated into Google Play Music. That should make for a smooth transition.
Creative Labs – Facebook’s stand-alone app division
The guys at Facebook’s Creative Labs think up new ways to enhance the core Facebook experience and come up with apps that focus on supporting the “diverse ways people want to connect and share.” Or at least they used to, because Facebook is quietly shutting it down.
The Creative Labs website is gone, the Creative Labs Facebook page is gone, and some of the apps developed by Creative Labs are gone. Slingshot, a Snapchat-like messaging app, gone. Riff, a video collaboration tool, gone. Rooms, an app that let you create rooms for whatever topics interest you, gone as well.
There are a few Creative Labs apps that continue to live on, although I’m not sure for how long: Paper, Moments, Facebook Groups, Hello.
Facebook said that no employees were laid off as part of Creative Lab’s closure and that it continues to encourage its developers to experiment.
Mailbox and Carousel – Dropbox’s mail and gallery apps
Back in 2013, Dropbox acquired Mailbox, a light, fast, user friendly app that was specifically designed to offer a great email reading experience on mobile devices. In 2014, Dropbox rolled out Carousel, a gallery app that pulls together all your photos and videos and lets you manage them all from a single location. Both of these apps will be discontinued. Mailbox will be shut down on February 26th, 2016. Carousel will be shut down on March 31st, 2016.
“We’ve made the difficult decision to shut down Carousel and Mailbox,” announced Dropbox founders Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi. “The Carousel and Mailbox teams have built products that are loved by many people and their work will continue to have an impact. We’ll be taking key features from Carousel back to the place where your photos live—in the Dropbox app. We’ll also be using what we’ve learned from Mailbox to build new ways to communicate and collaborate on Dropbox.”
This is the case with the apps and services presented below. This is a list of products that we’ll never get to use because they’ve been or will be discontinued, retired, or shut down.
younited – F-Secure’s personal cloud hosting service
On October 1, 2015, security company F-secure discontinued younited, it’s personal cloud storage service for Windows, Windows Phone, Mac OS X, iOS and Android.
Younited used to offer a secure means of storing and sharing photos, videos, documents and other digital content. When F-Secure introduced younited, it presented it as Finland’s red-hot alternative to US-based cloud services, describing it as a bold new personal content cloud service that offers a fun, engaging experience with rock-solid privacy and security.
The thing that was great about younited was that you could link it to other cloud services. This meant you could access your Facebook, Dropbox and Picasa files from younited.
By discontinuing younited, F-Secure can better focus its resources on Freedome, the VPN service that keeps you safe, invisible, and untrackable.
Sunrise – The good looking calendar app
The Sunrise calendar apps hasn’t been discontinued just yet, but it will be soon. The long story is detailed here. The short story goes something like this: Microsoft acquired Sunrise and got the Sunrise team working on making Outlook better. The Sunrise team is so busy working on Outlook that it doesn’t have time to work on updates; consequently, Sunrise updates won’t be released anymore. Microsoft wants to integrate Sunrise into Outlook and then pull Sunrise from the market.
And speaking about Microsoft, do you know that Microsoft announced plans to discontinue unlimited OneDrive cloud storage? Microsoft’s reaction to “a small number of users” uploading too much data to OneDrive was to:
- Discontinue unlimited cloud storage – Office 365 subscribers get 1TB instead of unlimited storage space.
- Pull paid storage options – the options to purchase 100GB or a 200GB plan will be replaced with a 50GB plan starting early 2016.
- Drastically cut free plans – starting early 2016, free OneDrive plans will be cut from 15GB to 5GB; on top of that, the 15GB camera roll storage bonus will be discontinued.
5GB of cloud storage space just isn’t enough. No matter, there are plenty of other cloud services out there. Not Dump Truck tough.
Dump Truck – Golden Frog’s secure online storage service
On December 19, 2015, Golden Frog will discontinue Dump Truck, its cloud storage service for Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, Android, and the web.
By signing up for a Dump Truck account, you got 5GB of cloud storage space for free. By getting the Dump Truck application, you could easily upload files to the cloud and keep them synced across all your platforms. Just like Dropbox, Dump Truck created a special folder; all the files you put inside that folder were automatically uploaded to the cloud and synced across all your devices.
Once Dump Truck is no more, Golden Frog will focus its efforts on the other two products it has to offer: VyprVPN, the fast and highly secure personal VPN service, and Cypher, the easy-to-use encrypted messaging app for Android and iOS.
Helpouts – Google’s live video service
On April 20, 2015, Google discontinued Helpouts, the live video service that promised to offer “real help from real people in real time”.
Helpouts seemed like a good idea when Google introduced it, back in 2013. A live video service meant to provide real help to real people in real time. If you needed help with something, you could use Helpouts to connect to someone who could lend a helping hand. Say you needed help with a computer problem for example. With Helpouts you could connect via real-time video to a technician who could help you fix the problem.
The thing is that Helpouts wasn’t as successful as Google hoped it would be. Consequently, Google decided to pull the plug on the whole thing.
Songza – The free, curated playlist service
Google is also shutting down Songza, the streaming music service and music lifestyle company it acquired in 2014. Songza will be discontinued on January 31, 2016 and all Songza users will be moved to Google Play Music. Speaking of which, it’s worth noting that most of Songza’s features have already been incorporated into Google Play Music. That should make for a smooth transition.
Creative Labs – Facebook’s stand-alone app division
The guys at Facebook’s Creative Labs think up new ways to enhance the core Facebook experience and come up with apps that focus on supporting the “diverse ways people want to connect and share.” Or at least they used to, because Facebook is quietly shutting it down.
The Creative Labs website is gone, the Creative Labs Facebook page is gone, and some of the apps developed by Creative Labs are gone. Slingshot, a Snapchat-like messaging app, gone. Riff, a video collaboration tool, gone. Rooms, an app that let you create rooms for whatever topics interest you, gone as well.
There are a few Creative Labs apps that continue to live on, although I’m not sure for how long: Paper, Moments, Facebook Groups, Hello.
Facebook said that no employees were laid off as part of Creative Lab’s closure and that it continues to encourage its developers to experiment.
Mailbox and Carousel – Dropbox’s mail and gallery apps
Back in 2013, Dropbox acquired Mailbox, a light, fast, user friendly app that was specifically designed to offer a great email reading experience on mobile devices. In 2014, Dropbox rolled out Carousel, a gallery app that pulls together all your photos and videos and lets you manage them all from a single location. Both of these apps will be discontinued. Mailbox will be shut down on February 26th, 2016. Carousel will be shut down on March 31st, 2016.
“We’ve made the difficult decision to shut down Carousel and Mailbox,” announced Dropbox founders Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi. “The Carousel and Mailbox teams have built products that are loved by many people and their work will continue to have an impact. We’ll be taking key features from Carousel back to the place where your photos live—in the Dropbox app. We’ll also be using what we’ve learned from Mailbox to build new ways to communicate and collaborate on Dropbox.”
