It is no secret that several popular Windows phone apps including PayPal and CNN are disappearing from the Windows Store, it also seems the shrinking market share of Microsoft’s mobile OS continues to push developers away from the platform. Unfortunately, this round of app cuts from the Windows Store now includes LinkedIn, a company that Microsoft acquired last year. LinkedIn just announced that it will shutter its Windows phone app on January 15 according to sources over at Windows Central).
If you use the app on your Windows phone, you may receive the following email inviting you to switch to the company’s iOS or Android apps:
At the end of 2015 we launched a new version of our mobile and tablet app, bringing you everything you love about LinkedIn into a simplified, smarter and more intuitive experience.
It looks like you have used the older version of our app in the last few months and we wanted to let you know that we will no longer be supporting this older version after January 15, 2017. We hope that you’ll consider upgrading to our new app, which is available on the following mobile operating systems:
- iOS8 and higher (iPhone 5 and above)
- Android Ice Cream Sandwich MR1 (4.0.3/API level 15)
The news is a bit surprising considering that Microsoft has been actively promoting Windows 10 Mobile towards business users. However, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner explained last year that the company would continue to operate independently following Microsoft’s acquisition, and the professional social network barely supported its Windows phone app over the last couple of years. As a matter of fact, the last time the LinkedIn app for Windows phone received its last update on December 2013.
It remains to be seen if LinkedIn will develop a new UWP app for Windows 10 devices, though it’s worth noting that Windows 10 users can already connect their LinkedIn account to Cortana. LinkedIn also released an Outlook Social connector some time ago.
Sound off in the comments if you think LinkedIn should improve its support for Windows 10 going forward.
