Google is shutting down the Bump app just four months after acquiring it.
The software giant bought Bump, a company that facilitates the wireless sharing of information between devices, back in September. Now it’s shutting down the Bump app itself, as well as the smaller company’s Flock app.
In a posting over on the official Bump blog, CEO and cofounder David Lieb revealed the news. He claims that "we are now deeply focused on our new projects within Google, and we’ve decided to discontinue Bump and Flock."
All of which makes it sound like Bump had a say in the fate of its Google-owned products, which we highly doubt.
Both Bump and Flock will be removed from the Google Play Store and the iOS App Store on January 31. After this, the apps will stop functioning altogether, and any user data will be deleted.
Bump has ensured that such user data can be preserved. Just open either of the apps before the end of the month and you’ll receive guidance on exporting your data.
The Bump app that made the company’s name allowed you to transfer your contact information, as well as photos and videos, simply by bumping two smartphones together. It also made syncing such data with your computer a similarly simple process.
Flock, meanwhile, allowed for a single shared album to be formed automatically from multiple people’s phones. It detected which friends were in the relevant images and shared accordingly.
It’s not unusual for Google to close down the main services of the companies it acquires - the company is typically after the technology and patents behind a service rather than the service itself - but the rapid turnaround between the acquisition and closure of Bump’s apps is certainly notable here.
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