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Microsoft kills select MSN apps, Photosynth for iOS and Windows Phone

Microsoft kills select MSN apps, Photosynth for iOS and Windows Phone

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Microsoft has announced that it's axing the Photosynth apps on Windows Phone and iOS. Effective immediately, the apps are losing all developer support and being pulled from their respective stores. If you already have Photosynth installed, you can continue using it — but Microsoft is being very direct in warning that from here on out, you're on your own. "We are doing this because the new Photosynth Preview technology and its cloud processing is a more immersive way to capture a place than the spherical panoramas that our apps produce," the company wrote on the Photosynth website.

Users with existing panoramas created with the apps are urged to upload them to Photosynth.net (which isn't going away), where they can either be shared or set as private depending on your privacy preferences. Photosynth isn't the only app going away; Microsoft is also retiring a few (presumably unpopular) MSN mobile offerings. Thankfully in those cases, the end isn't quite so imminent.

Both MSN Travel and MSN Food & Drink for Windows, iOS, and Android will be discontinued on September 28th. MSN Health & Fitness for all three platforms will go away on November 1st. "We regularly evaluate our business to ensure we’re focused on the areas where our users find the most value," Microsoft said in a statement. "We will continue to support those apps with broad consumer appeal including News, Weather, Sports and Money, which will be made available as apps on Windows 10 and will remain cross platform."