Facebook Discontinues 'Poke' and 'Camera', Pulls Apps from App Store

MacRumors · May 9, 2014

Facebook today removed its long defunct Facebook Poke and Facebook Camera apps from the App Store, quietly pulling the apps with no notification to users. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the removal to The Verge, but declined to comment further.

First introduced in December of 2012, Facebook's Poke app was the company's answer to Snapchat, allowing users to send ephemeral photos, videos, messages, and "poke" notifications to their friends. Each message only lasted a few seconds before expiring, much like Snapchat's temporary messages.

Poke quickly floundered following its release as it failed to gain popularity amid competition from Snapchat, and it received no updates.

Facebook's Camera app was slightly more popular when it launched in May of 2012 as a way to make sharing multiple photos on Facebook "faster and easier." The single function app, which also let users browse photos, saw several updates during the first year it was released but later fell to the wayside as Facebook integrated Camera features into its main Facebook app. At the time of removal, the Facebook Camera had not been updated since August of 2013.

Despite the failure of Facebook Poke and Facebook Camera, Facebook has continued with development of standalone Facebook apps under its Creative Labs initiative. Paper, the first product to come out of Creative Labs, has been lauded for its design and has thus far enjoyed moderate success.

Article Link: Facebook Discontinues 'Poke' and 'Camera', Pulls Apps from App Store

mabaker · May 9, 2014

Now I have to have them!!! Flap Flip Flappy!

Alphabetize · May 9, 2014

Good riddance. I don't really get why an app like Facebook needed to have separate apps for functions that should just be an all in one app.

zabbadoo · May 9, 2014

After Facebook banned images of mothers breast-feeding, it was inevitable poking was next.

DonJudgeMe · May 9, 2014

Wow, how will I ever continue living without this staple undeniably holding my whole existence together. What the hell is "poking"? I stopped with "top 8" on myspace...

arefbe · May 9, 2014

DonJudgeMe said:
Wow, how will I ever continue living without this staple undeniably holding my whole existence together. What the hell is "poking"? I stopped with "top 8" on myspace...

Agreed. Poke is/was one more the sillier Facebook concepts.

The Mercurian · May 9, 2014

This must be why Facebook is on all borked up right now

iLoveiTunes · May 9, 2014

No...!!! it's a huge loss for humanity.

nepalisherpa · May 9, 2014

I didn't even know that these apps existed!

darkslide29 · May 9, 2014

What does this article have to do with Beats??

KoolAid-Drink · May 9, 2014

Just to be clear, poking is still accessible from the main FB page/app, so poking hasn't been eliminated as of now.

Zxxv · May 9, 2014

Poking. Is that what the kids are calling it these days. Remember calling it Porking.

AppleP59 · May 9, 2014

bigjohn · May 10, 2014

i like the Camera app and will continue to use it until they break it

BornAgainApple · May 10, 2014

Thank god. I had one attractive mother friend who constantly sent me pokes. Wasn't even sure what pokes were in the FB world, but as an American male, I could see myself poking her a lot. I'm married though, and not gonna risk the big D with a virtual poke or otherwise.

C DM · May 10, 2014

BornAgainApple said:
Thank god. I had one attractive mother friend who constantly sent me pokes. Wasn't even sure what pokes were in the FB world, but as an American male, I could see myself poking her a lot. I'm married though, and not gonna risk the big D with a virtual poke or otherwise.

Pokes are still there in Facebook, the Poke app is just no longer available.

bigpics · May 10, 2014

Alphabetize said:
Good riddance. I don't really get why an app like Facebook needed to have separate apps for functions that should just be an all in one app.

Prep to be disappointed then. FB's actually moving to break "the big app" into more separate pieces, e.g., messaging will soon no longer be supported in the main mobile app, forcing you to use Messages (or some non-fb solution), and can't remember the rest of what I read nor the whole rationale, but there's more break-outs coming.

Meanwhile, won't download Messages until forced to...

DoctorTech · May 10, 2014

Anybody still using the main FB app?

I deleted the main FB app from my iPhone and iPad after the last update completely ruined it. I would try to launch the app but just get a blue screen with the FB logo until I finally closed the app. Tried it several times on both devices when I knew I had a good internet connection and finally gave up and deleted the app.

C DM · May 10, 2014

DoctorTech said:
I deleted the main FB app from my iPhone and iPad after the last update completely ruined it. I would try to launch the app but just get a blue screen with the FB logo until I finally closed the app. Tried it several times on both devices when I knew I had a good internet connection and finally gave up and deleted the app.

you can try the Paper app.

jonnysods · May 11, 2014

darkslide29 said:
What does this article have to do with Beats??

This. Thank you for making my night!!

----------

I wish I could have messenger on my phone without the FB app. I would stop wasting so much time looking at nothing!!!

C DM · May 11, 2014

jonnysods said:
This. Thank you for making my night!!

----------

I wish I could have messenger on my phone without the FB app. I would stop wasting so much time looking at nothing!!!

Why can't you? Messenger is a separate app.

MacSince1990 · May 12, 2014

*Shrug* Two less apps to clutter the app store. I call it a win.

0098386 · May 12, 2014

Alphabetize said:
Good riddance. I don't really get why an app like Facebook needed to have separate apps for functions that should just be an all in one app.

Yup, now they just need to kill off their messaging app and all will be well with the world.

I can't even fathom why you'd want to fracture your experience between multiple apps.

jonnysods · May 12, 2014

C DM said:
Why can't you? Messenger is a separate app.

It won't let you use it. Notice that you never actually logged into the app to use it. It's linked to the FB app.

C DM · May 12, 2014

jonnysods said:
It won't let you use it. Notice that you never actually logged into the app to use it. It's linked to the FB app.

I don't have the FB app and can use Messenger just fine. They might be related but one doesn't require the other to work.

Facebook Discontinues 'Poke' and 'Camera', Pulls Apps from App Store

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