Microsoft support ends for numerous Lumia Windows Phone apps and services on 30 October

Microsoft Lumia Windows Phone apps — Microsoft support ends for numerous Lumia Windows Phone apps and services on 30 October Microsoft Lumia Conversations UK

Microsoft has started to take down numerous Windows Phone apps from the Windows Phone Store citing end of support for these apps and services after 30 October. The list of apps nearing end of support includes Lumia Storyteller, Lumia Refocus, Photobeamer, Lumia Beamer, Lumia Panorama and Video Uploader.

Online services for Lumia Refocus, Lumia Beamer, Lumia Storyteller and Photobeamer will also end on the same day, according to Microsoft's recent post on its Lumia Conversations blog. The company has cited some interesting reasons behind 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.

Microsoft has assured existing Windows Phone app users who have already installed these apps on their smartphones that they can continue using them, even after upgrading to Windows 10 Mobile. Nevertheless, those apps whose functionality depends on online services such as Lumia Storyteller, Lumia Refocus, Lumia Beamer and Photobeamer will cease to work, once their development support ends on 30 October.

Microsoft has further cautioned users of Lumia Storyteller app to download all their uploaded online content, before the support ceases on 30 October:

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.

Microsoft