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Facebook today announced that it is acquiring mobile fitness app developer ProtoGeo Oy, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Helsinki-based company was founded in January 2012 and launched its first and only app, Moves [iTunes] one year later. The fitness tracking app debuted first for the iPhone and was made available for Android in August of 2013. It is popular, accruing 4 million downloads across both mobile platforms.

moves-main.jpeg
In a post on its website, ProtoGeo confirms Moves will continue to operate as a standalone app and adds that the company has no plans to share its fitness data with Facebook's social network.
Today, we're delighted to announce that Facebook has acquired our company and the Moves app. Since we launched Moves, we've been focused on running a simple and clean activity diary that millions of people have enjoyed using.

Now, we're joining Facebook's talented team to work on building and improving their products and services with a shared mission of supporting simple, efficient tools for more than a billion people.

For those of you that use the Moves app - the Moves experience will continue to operate as a standalone app, and there are no plans to change that or commingle data with Facebook.
Moves stand out from competing fitness apps by automating the tedious process of data entry, which can be a hindrance to the effective use of a fitness tracking app. Move imports data from a variety of third-party apps and automatically detects activities such as entering the gym, going out to lunch or riding on public transit. On the iPhone, Moves supports Apple's M7 motion co-processor, which is available in the iPhone 5s.

This acquisition by Facebook is one of several high-profile app purchases by the social network as the company continues its expansion into the mobile app market. Moves will join Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Paper, all of which operate as stand-alone apps under the Facebook umbrella.

The amount Facebook paid to acquire ProtoGeo was not revealed, but a Facebook spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that the amount is "nowhere near the size of other acquisitions the company has made in recent months." Facebook announced earlier this year it was acquiring mobile messenger WhatsApp for $19 billion and Oculus Rift for $2 billion.

Article Link: Facebook Expands Mobile App Portfolio with 'Moves' Fitness App Acquisition
 

Planey28

macrumors 6502
Jul 10, 2010
474
576
Birmingham, UK
I wish Facebook would stop buying every company that shows promise. It's getting creepy now, especially since this app tracks your location. I loved moves but doubt I'll be using it anymore.
 

C64

macrumors 65816
Sep 3, 2008
1,236
222
Great app, love it, always on, use it daily. However... no way I'm letting a Facebook-owned app track my every move, literally.

Exported my data, removed my account, deleted the app. I hope deleting my account means they actually delete the data, and it hasn't already been copied/backed up by Facebook.

Argh! :mad:
 

borninla

macrumors newbie
Jan 21, 2014
15
9
This is the e-mail I got from them. They're saying that "there are no plans to... commingle data with Facebook". But, then again, what do we believe nowadays?

25d00409e62723f04c3db54ef074ce5a.png
 

LordQ

Suspended
Sep 22, 2012
3,582
5,653
Ugh, when is Facebook going to die? For me, the biggest letdown was when they purchased WhatsApp, luckily most of my friends now have iMessage.

Perhaps Healthbook may be a replacement for this app (and most fitness apps on the App Store?) I'd love to stay on a full Apple ecosystem.
 
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Ventilatedbrain

macrumors regular
Nov 22, 2012
201
68
Is this an epidemic now ? Come on if you're not into fitness you probably never will be. Even though I use Facebook , in my mind Facebook is the epitome of mistrust
 

nwcs

macrumors 68030
Sep 21, 2009
2,722
5,262
Tennessee
No plans to share data means no plans now. Next month they'll change their minds and not tell anyone because the TOU people accepted probably states (as most do) that terms can change any time.
 

C64

macrumors 65816
Sep 3, 2008
1,236
222
No plans to share data means no plans now. Next month they'll change their minds and not tell anyone because the TOU people accepted probably states (as most do) that terms can change any time.
Exactly.

They're not buying this just for fun, the data is where the money is. Even if they don't get the data collected up to this point (which I doubt), some terms will change in the (near) future when the initial "nothing will change" statements have been forgotten, and suddenly they're logging everyone's location in real time.

NOPE.
 

bnmcj1

macrumors 6502
Apr 13, 2014
398
180
They are buying the internet. Someone stop it. Every good rising startup is just bought...
 

numlock

macrumors 68000
Mar 13, 2006
1,590
88
They are buying the internet. Someone stop it. Every good rising startup is just bought...

the tone in the thread about apples acquisitions is quite different.

but i find it alarming the hold and amount of money these giants have and use it to control this market. its way to congested
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,390
19,458
People who seemingly don't care about Facebook apparently care quite a bit about it for some reason.
 

street.cory

macrumors 6502
Oct 13, 2009
379
168
the tone in the thread about apples acquisitions is quite different.

but i find it alarming the hold and amount of money these giants have and use it to control this market. its way to congested

We're all here because we like using Apple products and when Apple buys a company, especially one that could help improve their product, we get excited.

I share the same sentiment with many others here for Facebook buying Moves. To me they're getting a too hungry for user data.

And you're right things are way too congested!
 

PinkyMacGodess

Suspended
Mar 7, 2007
10,271
6,226
Midwest America.
As if I'd want other people on Facebook to know how much, and potentially where I workout.

I already have enough trouble finding good security for the throngs that follow me around as it is... :D:cool::eek:;):):apple:

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They are buying the internet. Someone stop it. Every good rising startup is just bought...

Well, with taxes so low, and profits so high, it's to be expected. Eventually, with government assistance of course, i see the whole internet, and largely the totality of our 'civilization' will be owned and operated by less than 5 companies. It will be 'for our own good' too...
 
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