It is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that a large company buys a small one in order to, over time, make it disappear and keep the technology it uses. An example of this is found in Wunderlist and Microsoft. The latest in the MSQRD app, a application that Facebook bought in 2016 and that will leave the Play Store in April.
MSQRD is an augmented reality application that allows us add elements to our face or that of other people to record videos or take pictures. Since its launch, MSQRD has become one of the most popular. Little by little, more applications were arriving but the best of all was still MSQRD.
Facebook bought MSQRD to keep the AR technology used by the company, since practically since its launch it has hardly added new filters, so the purchase was the chronicle of an announced death. Facebook has officially confirmed, via The Verge, that the application will leave both the Play Store and the App Store on April 13.
In the statement that Facebook has sent to The Verge, we can read:
On April 13, the MSQRD app will disappear. When Masquerade joined Facebook in 2016, photo filter technology was starting to emerge. The MSQRD was instrumental in giving AR an early boost and providing ideas for building the platform that Facebook has today. We're now focused on bringing you the best possible AR experiences through Spark AR, the platform that allows anyone to create their own AR effects and share them across the entire Facebook family. You can still find AR effects directly within Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Portal. Many thanks to our community for the support.
If you have not yet had the opportunity to try it and want to have a good time, you can still download it to your device until April 13. After that date, the application will continue to work if you have it installed on your computer but you will not be able to download it again.
