Facebook pulls plug on Snapchat alternative Poke

Facebook is stopping development of its Poke application, an alternative to the popular Snapchat. The Poke app for iOS has been pulled from the App Store, as has the standalone camera application Facebook Camera, which is also no longer under development.

The Verge noted that the Poke application is no longer discoverable in the App Store. Facebook confirmed to the news site that the application has been removed. Although the company did not comment further, the software appears to have been taken down due to its low popularity. Poke, as the name suggests, allows users to send a “poke” to Facebook friends, just like on the Facebook website. In addition, it is possible to send content such as messages, photos and videos that disappear after a few seconds.

Poke is an alternative to Snapchat, the popular chat application where content disappears after a short time. However, Snapchat did introduce a feature some time ago where content can be viewed again once, although this feature is of limited use. Sending messages with a limited shelf life should provide a solution for content that users would rather not see leaked.

At the same time, Facebook has removed its camera application from the App Store for iOS. The standalone app Facebook Camera was intended for sharing photos, which can also be edited with a filter. The app, like Poke, was not very popular. Facebook is likely to pull the plug to focus on Instagram, which it owns.