Google Discontinuing Bump and Flock Apps

They say that all good things must come to an end. However, in the tech world, endings sometimes just translate to evolution, from one thing to the next. But no matter what innovation lies ahead, it can be difficult to let go of technology we have grown to love. Users of the apps Bump and Flock will soon be coming to terms with this range of emotions, since both apps will be shut down by the end of the month.

Google has decided to dismiss Bump Technologies from its app repertoire. This means that popular platforms Bump, a cross-platform wireless sharing app, and Flock, a photo-sharing app for groups to share a single album in the cloud, will both be discontinued from use. The Internet superpower had just acquired Bump Technologies in September of 2013, but as of Jan. 31, all functionality will come to a halt.

Before that happens, users are thankfully being offered export options for all of their personal data before it is permanently deleted. However, there is no replication option being offered for the functionality of Bump and Flock (though it is anticipated that Google will look to pull Flock users into photo sharing via Google+). Complaints are also being leveled against Google’s short-term communication of the upcoming deletion – Bump was rated the eighth most popular free app of all time by Apple in 2011, and coming up on five years old, it had a well-established user base that is sorry to see it go.

Google CEO David Lieb offered a brief statement regarding the reason for the change: “We are now deeply focused on our new projects within Google, and we’ve decided to discontinue Bump and Flock.”

It’s true that all good things must come to an end, but we will often miss what we leave behind. However, it will be interesting to see what Google has in store for the year ahead.