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"In what appears to be a continued paring down of extraneous apps in its iOS software ecosystem, Facebook on Friday removed Poke and Camera from the app store. \r\n\r\n&amp;lt;div align=\"center\"&amp;gt;&amp;lt;img src=http://photos.appleinsider.com/gallery/9217-687-140509-FB_Camera-l.png alt=\"\" /&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;\r\n\r\nThe removal of Facebook's widely panned &amp;lt;em&amp;gt;Poke&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt; and &amp;lt;em&amp;gt;Snapchat&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt; rival &amp;lt;em&amp;gt;Camera&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt; came without warning and little fanfare. Facebook confirmed the &amp;lt;a href=\"http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/9/5700732/facebook-poke-is-dead-and-so-is-facebook-camera\"&amp;gt;apps' removal&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; to &amp;lt;em&amp;gt;The Verge&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt;, but declined on commenting on the matter. \r\n\r\nFacebook's standalone &amp;lt;em&amp;gt;Camera&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt; app &amp;lt;a href=\"http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/05/24/facebook_launches_instagram_style_camera_app_for_iphone\"&amp;gt;mirrored&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; certain functionality found in Instagram, which the social network purchased for $1 billion &amp;lt;a href=\"http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/04/09/facebook_acquires_instagram_for_1_billion\"&amp;gt;in 2012&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;. \r\n\r\nInstead of rolling Instagram into its main app, Facebook left the picture sharing service as its own entity, but borrowed some features like batch uploading and photo filters for the creation of &amp;lt;em&amp;gt;Facebook Camera&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt;. Certain functions were subsequently ported over to the flagship &amp;lt;a href=\"http://appleinsider.com/l/?link=https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/facebook/id284882215?mt=8\"&amp;gt;Facebook&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; app including &amp;lt;em&amp;gt;Camera's&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt; photo selection tool. \r\n\r\nAs for &amp;lt;em&amp;gt;Poke&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt;, the app first launched in 2012 as a competitor to &amp;lt;em&amp;gt;Snapchat&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt;, with the app allowing users to send each other messages and short videos. Unlike other messaging services, Facebook's erstwhile solution let users set a \"self-destruct\" time -- up to ten seconds long -- that would wipe the message after being opened.\r\n\r\nBy pulling the two apps Facebook is apparently cleaning house as its new Creative Labs division rolls out more software like the well-received &amp;lt;a href=\"http://appleinsider.com/l/?link=https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/paper-stories-from-facebook/id794163692?mt=8\"&amp;gt;&amp;lt;em&amp;gt;Paper&amp;lt;/em&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;, a &amp;lt;a href=\"http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/01/30/facebook-debuts-new-paper-reading-app-carrot-fit-brings-snarky-weight-tracking-to-ios\"&amp;gt;storyboard-style&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; approach to reading and interacting with news feeds.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/05/09/facebook-pokefacebook-yanks-poke-and-camera-standalone-apps-in-bid-to-consolidate-titles>