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Facebook has removed Poke and Facebook camera, two apps that were essentially clones of other successful apps, from the iOS App Store, the company confirmed Friday.
The removals, first noticed by The Verge, occurred nearly two years after Facebook introduced the apps. Poke was a rival to popular messaging app Snapchat. Facebook Camera was a clone of popular photo-sharing app Instagram.
A Facebook spokeswoman confirmed that the apps are no longer available in the App Store, but did not comment further.
Both apps rapidly gained popularity with teens, pulling them away from Facebook. Poke was an extension of Facebook’s “poke” button, a feature left over from Facebook’s collegiate beginnings. The social network launched Poke in December 2012 as an affront to Snapchat, which let users send ephemeral messages that disappear from the app after a set amount of time. Facebook released its Camera app in May 2012, shortly after the company announced its intent to purchase Instagram. The camera app let users apply filters to photos and share them to Facebook.
