Microsoft is making some cuts in its library of Windows Phone apps. It has removed a number of them immediately from the Windows Phone Store, including Lumia Storyteller, Lumia Beamer, Photobeamer, Lumia Refocus, Lumia Panorama and Video Uploader. Updates for all those apps will end after October 30 and online services for Lumia Storyteller, Lumia Beamer, Photobeamer, and Lumia Refocus will also end on that date.
In a post on its Lumia Conversations blog, Microsoft offered their reasons for making these decisions:
Our goal is to provide experiences that work really well on all Windows devices. In order to do that, we need to focus on making our Windows 10 core Photos and Camera apps great.Many of the Lumia features are already included in the Windows 10 Photos and Camera apps. While we can't promise that any particular feature is coming back, we're committed to providing a great photo and camera experience in Windows across devices, and we're listening to your feedback as we continue improving our apps.
While the apps will no longer be available in the Windows Phone Store, people who have already downloaded and installed the apps on their Windows Phone device can continue to use them, even if they upgrade to Windows 10 Mobile. However, since the online services for Lumia Storyteller, Lumia Beamer, Photobeamer, and Lumia Refocus will be ending on Oct. 30, those apps won't actually work anymore after that date.
For users of the Lumia Storyteller app who have uploaded their content online, Microsoft says they should download them before October 30:
"The stories you see in the Lumia Storyteller app on your phone won't be affected and will continue to work within the app, but stories you've published on the "online stories" site will no longer be available from the web service after October 30, 2015. To keep the images and videos in your online stories, open the Storyteller app, select online stories, and view each published story on the web. Then from the website, download all the images and videos that you want to keep. Be sure to do this before October 30, 2015, when the website will no longer be available."
Source: Microsoft{.nofollow}
