The only constant is change, and after a rough 2020, we were looking forward to a more productive 2021. Progress there is touch and go, but there were glimpses of normalcy. Apple and Samsung released their latest flagships, game makers launched major titles, and billionaires just couldn’t help themselves.
But as shiny new gadgets lined stores shelves (or got stuck in ports) and innovative services lit up Twitter, others had their last hurrah. Some called it a day after less than a year while others said farewell after decades in business.
We had a few false starts. Amid public backlash, Sony in April reversed a decision to close the PlayStation store for the PS3 and PS Vita. Over the summer, OnlyFans also opted not to ban porn from its platform. And things looked bad for the “anything goes” social network Parler following the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol, but it returned to the App Store in May after agreeing to certain content-moderation policies.
Facebook, meanwhile, survived a tough year, but opted to change the name of the company overseeing all its properties (Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus) from Facebook to Meta. Mark Zuckerberg would prefer you strap on a VR headset and have a tea party in the metaverse than focus on the societal damage caused by social media. (Not to be outdone, Square also changed its name to Block, shortly after its CEO Jack Dorsey resigned his other CEO gig at Twitter.)
Much to some people’s chagrin, Facebook probably isn’t going anywhere, but the technology listed below can’t say the same. Pour one out for the tech that died in 2021.
January
Minecraft Earth
The success of Pokemon Go prompted other developers to try games that incorporated real-world play, including Minecraft maker Mojang. But Minecraft Earth arrived just ahead of a global pandemic that made exploring the physical world less tenable. By January 2021, Microsoft said it would shut down Minecraft Earth on June 30. “Minecraft Earth was designed around free movement and collaborative play — two things that have become near impossible in the current global situation,” the Minecraft team said.
Donald Trump’s Social Media Accounts
In the wake of Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, the top social networks—Twitter, Facebook, YouTube—shut down the outgoing president’s accounts, arguing that they couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t use them to incite violence. Twitter has said that Trump is now banned for life, Facebook will revisit the ban in early 2023, and YouTube has said only that it will reinstate Trump when the risk of violence goes down.
Netflix on Wii U and 3DS
For those who were binge-watching on Nintendo’s aging Wii U and 3DS consoles, the game maker announced it January that it would discontinue Netflix access by June 30 for the New Nintendo 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS XL, New Nintendo 2DS XL, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 3DS XL, Nintendo 2DS, Wii U Deluxe, and Wii U Basic, after removing the app from the eShop on Dec. 31.
Simple
If your app-based bank disappears, did it ever really exist? The popular online banking app Simple shut down early this year, several months after its parent company, BBVA USA, was acquired by PNC Bank. Customers initially retained access to their Simple accounts, but were ultimately transferred to BBVA USA. The Simple website and app are now offline.
Amazon Pantry
Amazon Pantry debuted in 2014 as a way for customers to regularly stock up on staple items in one shipment. But with the growth of Prime, as well as Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods and its expansion into grocery deliveries with Fresh, there was less of a need for Pantry, and it shut down in January.
Alphabet Project Loon
Tech firms have spent big bucks in the last decade trying to get internet access to far-flung corners of the globe—in part because they recognize that it’s hard to exist in today’s world without the web, but there’s also the added benefit of attracting more users. Project Loon from Google (now Alphabet) used balloons that connected to special antennas on the ground to provide service. It took flight in 2013, but Alphabet announced in January that the effort was too expensive “to build a long-term, sustainable business,” and would be winding down.
Tucows Downloads
After more than 25 years online, the freeware and shareware downloads website Tucows Downloads finally retired in 2021. “A lot has changed since those early years,” Elliot Noss, Tucows CEO, acknowledged in a January blog post. “Tucows has grown and evolved as a business. It’s been a long time since Tucows has been TUCOWS, which stood for The Ultimate Collection of Winsock Software.” The company has since become a domain name registrar, but its contents have been preserved by the Internet Archive for posterity.
February
Fry’s Electronics
The rise of e-commerce has killed many retail stores, from Circuit City to Radio Shack. This year, it was Fry’s that threw in the towel. The venerable West Coast electronics chain, known for its kitschy themes, couldn’t compete against the deep pockets of juggernauts like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. It suddenly closed its 31 remaining stores in early February, citing changing customer habits and the pandemic. Go down memory lane with PCMag’s Chris Stobing here.
Google Stadia Games and Entertainment Team
Game-streaming services offer the promise of top games without the expense of a console or gaming PC. But Google’s solution, Stadia, hasn’t exactly blown gamers out of the water. We gave it a tepid 2.5 stars out of five when it debuted in 2019, in part for its disappointing launch library. In February, improvement on that front grew less likely, when the company disbanded the Stadia Games and Entertainment team, which was charged with developing first-party titles. The reason? “Creating best-in-class games from the ground up takes many years and significant investment, and the cost is going up exponentially,” said Stadia General Manager Phil Harrison.
March
First-Gen Apple HomePod
Apple’s first smart speaker wasn’t particularly impressive. Voice control was limited to Apple Music and Siri lagged behind competing voice assistants. Last year’s HomePod mini was big improvement, especially since it was only $99, leaving little reason to buy the $300 original. Apple apparently recognized this and discontinued the first-gen device in March.
Apple iMac Pro
Also getting the heave-ho by Cupertino this year was its iMac Pro, which hadn’t seen a refresh in several years. In March, Apple suggested that iMac fans check out the 2020 27-inch iMac. It later released an M1-based iMac.
April
Logitech Harmony Remotes
Logitech’s Harmony line was one of the biggest names in universal remote controls. In 2017, we found its Harmony Elite to be “the most advanced universal remote you can buy without a custom installation,” though it came at a $349 premium. Later efforts weren’t as impressive, though, and by 2021, the rise of streaming made universal remotes less relevant. In April, Logitech announced it would no longer make Harmony remotes.
Legacy Microsoft Edge
Redmond stopped trying to make Edge happen this year, sort of. The Microsoft-made browser is still tightly integrated with Windows (particularly in Windows 11), but it’s now a Chromium-based gateway to the web. For a time, the original coexisted with the Chromium upgrade, but only one could prevail. As of April 13, anyone with the original Edge still installed on their Windows 10 PC saw it automatically replaced with the Chromium version.
LG’s Mobile Phone Business
It’s tough out there for phone makers that aren’t Samsung or Apple. In 2021, LG saw the writing on the wall and closed up its mobile shop. Despite some innovative takes on the smartphone, like the flippable LG Wing (“the wildest phone of late 2020,” we wrote), LG couldn’t keep up with the deep pockets of its chief rivals. Going forward, the company will focus its efforts on “electric vehicle components, connected devices, smart homes, robotics, artificial intelligence and business-to-business solutions, as well as platforms and services,” it said in April.
Google Shopping Apps
These “tech that died” lists usually include a handful of Google products. The search giant wasn’t quite as ruthless in 2021 as it has been in previous years, but a few services did give up the ghost. Following an April update to Google’s iOS and Android Shopping platforms, Google Shopping app users started seeing “something went wrong” error messages and were redirected to shopping.google.com. Google confirmed the shutdown and directed web users to the Shopping tab on Google.com and the full Google app.
May
Yahoo Answers
Am I pragnent? Sadly, the world may never know, as Yahoo Answers said farewell to the internet earlier this year. The site has been around since 2005, and despite not being as popular as other question-and-answer sites, like Quora and Reddit, Yahoo Answers still pulled in a respectable amount of traffic. But the often-incoherent queries of the Yahoo crew did not charm parent company Verizon, and the site shut down on May 4.
Amazon Prime Now App
Quick online deliveries are the norm these days, particularly in big cities. But in 2014, it was uncharted territory, and Amazon took the reins with one-hour “Prime Now” deliveries in New York City. It was limited in scope and only accessible via a separate app. Seven years later, that standalone app was no longer necessary, and Amazon folded Prime Now into its main app, so you can shop for two-day and one-hour items in the same place.
Windows 10X
Device makers have been experimenting with foldable and dual-screen devices in recent years, and Microsoft’s solution was the Surface Neo. It ran Windows 10X, a lightweight version of Windows 10 intended to go head-to-head with Google’s Chrome OS. But after “a year-long exploration,” Microsoft said in May that it didn’t make sense to have a separate version of Windows for devices with unique form factors. Instead, it axed 10X and folded the technology into Windows 10.
LiveLeak
If you wanted disturbing or violent videos in the mid-aughts, LiveLeak was more than happy to satisfy your morbid curiosity. Fifteen years later, though, the internet is awash in dark corners for those who need them, while the rest of us would love it if everyone would take it down a notch. In a May blog post announcing the shutdown of LiveLeak, its founders acknowledged that “The world has changed a lot over these last few years, the Internet alongside it, and we as people.”
Peloton Tread+
It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster year for Peloton. Following a blockbuster 2020 that saw exercise buffs turn to smart gym equipment during COVID-19 quarantines, the company was forced to recall its Tread and Tread+ treadmills after the accidental death and injury of children playing on them. It later released an updated Peloton Tread, which fixed the problematic elements of the original (it’s a PCMag Editors’ Choice pick), but the Tread+ remains off the market for “the foreseeable future,” Peloton told us in October.
June
Unlimited Storage for Google Photos and Docs
Every year, Google pulls a move that irks the masses, and this year it was the demise of unlimited storage on Google Photos and Docs. The former had long been a free way to automatically back up (lower-res) smartphone photos to the cloud. But nothing in life is truly free, and Google capped us all at 15GB of data per Google account, starting June 1. Why? To get us to upgrade to paid plans, of course. (Here are some Google Photos alternatives.)
Dark Sky App
The standalone, hyper-local weather app Dark Sky will shut down next year, co-founder Adam Grossman confirmed in June. The popular app was acquired by Apple in 2020, and the Android and Wear OS versions of the service have already gone kaput. Look for the Dark Sky tech to pop up in Apple’s own weather solutions going forward.
SoftBank Pepper Robots
Perhaps one day the robots will come for us. Until then, they’re still getting stuck in the snow. At SoftBank, its Pepper robot joined Jibo in the android graveyard this year. The 4-foot, 62-pound device arrived a few years ago, marketed as a robot who “understands emotions,” and could provide assistance in retail situations, like banks. As Reuters reported in June, however, Pepper struggled to find a customer base, and SoftBank stopped production.
Donald Trump’s Blog
Banned from most social media networks, the former president turned to blogging. Well, sort of. He basically started posting statements to his official website in a format that mimicked a Twitter feed. It didn’t last long, though. After a mere month of Trump Thoughts, the blog shut down with promises of a larger social media effort down the line. That has yet to fully materialize, though Trump did convince Rep. Devin Nunes to quit Congress and run the Trump Media & Technology Group.
July
Twitter Fleets
Social media platforms have struggled to come up with original ideas lately, and the feature they’ve all ripped off is “Stories,” or short-lived, 15-second clips. Twitter’s version was Fleets, pitched as a “low pressure” way for people to use Twitter without fear of the dreaded ratio or other abuse. But screenshots are a thing. Plus, Fleets let tweeters see who viewed their posts, unlike regular tweets, which (for me, at least) was definitely a deterrent to tapping on them. Twitter announced in July that it was axing the feature, and by Aug. 3, less than a year after they debuted, Fleets expired one last time.
August
Bluetooth Titan Security Key
Google’s Titan Security Keys offer an extra layer of security for multi-factor authentication, but with the introduction of NFC-enabled Titan Security Keys, Google this year discontinued its Bluetooth version. The Bluetooth ones will continue working, though.
Android Auto for Phone Screens
Android Auto adds the Android experience to your car’s infotainment system when you connect your smartphone, but only in compatible vehicles. For those with non-compatible cars, there was Android Auto for Phone Screens. But people running the Android 12 beta who attempted to load it this summer saw a message urging them to use Google Assistant driving mode. Google later confirmed that “Starting with Android 12, Google Assistant driving mode will be the built-in mobile driving experience.”
LinkedIn Stories
When I said that every social media company tried Stories, I meant it. The main reason LinkedIn’s version failed, though, was because its users didn’t like that their messages disappeared. The whole point of LinkedIn is to have something that prospective employers can peruse, so creating catchy career-related content and having it disappear 24 hours later wasn’t super helpful.
Primephonic
Primephonic has been in the classical music streaming business for years, and in 2021, Apple took note and acquired it. Unfortunately, that means the standalone service has been shut down for now. Next year, “Apple Music plans to launch a dedicated classical music app…combining Primephonic’s classical user interface that fans have grown to love with more added features.”
Groovy Discord Bot
Groovy lets users gather for online listening parties, playing music from major services like YouTube, Spotify, Soundcloud, Deezer, Apple Music, and Tidal. But since most of those platforms don’t allow direct audio playback, Groovy inputs metadata into YouTube to find the closest equivalent to your intended track. In August, Google said that ran afoul of YouTube’s terms of service and shut down the Groovy music bot.
September
Rythm Discord Bot
Less than three weeks after axing Discord’s Groovy music bot, Google did the same to Rythm, which had more than 560 million Discord users. “We have received a notice from YouTube asking us to shut down our service,” the team said at the time. “Since we use YouTube as our main source of music, that means our current service will shut down entirely.”
Tesla Referral Program
Tesla is now a well-known brand in the automotive world, but it’s long used a referral program among the Tesla faithful to help drum up sales. One person referred so many people in 2016 that they scored a free P90D, a Tesla Powerwall, and entry to Tesla launch events. But things change. These days, the chip shortage and other production issues mean Tesla is struggling to keep up, so it doesn’t really need a referral program to help it sell cars. As of Sept. 18, vehicle products and solar panels “are no longer eligible for Referral awards,” the company said, though the Solar Roof is still part of the program, Electrek reported.
XTube
There had to be at least one porn website on this list, and 2021 saw the demise of XTube in early September. As The Next Web reported this summer, XTube owner MindGeek has faced a number of lawsuits over illegal content across its collection of adult sites. And while MindGeek didn’t say that legal issues were the cause of the XTube shutdown, that’s usually the reason when these things happen.
October
Apple Touch Bar
Since 2016, certain versions of Apple’s MacBooks have included a strange little strip atop the keyboard that allowed for touch functionality on apps like the calculator, predictive text, and more. As we noted in our review of the latest 16-inch MacBook Pro, “Apple touted the Touch Bar as a boon to creative pros, who could use it to scrub through video timelines and quickly access the settings they needed to adjust for any given task.” But many people found it to be gimmicky, so Apple ditched the Touch Bar in the 14- and new 16-inch MacBook Pros, replacing it with physical function keys.
Houseparty
The team behind Houseparty retired the video-chat app in October to focus on building new social experiences for Epic Games, which acquired Houseparty in 2019. The shutdown was a little surprising, given that Houseparty’s popularity grew last year due to the pandemic. But its developers said they’ve been too busy creating new features for Epic Games and its popular Fortnite franchise, and something had to give.
LinkedIn China
LinkedIn’s seven-year effort to operate in China—a country notorious for online censorship—came to an end this year. Parent company Microsoft cited the country’s strict regulations on content moderation, as well as “greater compliance requirements in China.”
November
Fortnite in China
A modified version of Fortnite debuted in China in April 2018, but concessions made by Epic Games (removing in-game purchases, modifying certain skins) were not enough to satisfy Chinese authorities. So Epic opted to shut down the game rather than run a stripped-down version. Account creation was halted on Nov. 1 ahead of a formal shutdown on Nov. 15.
Facebook’s Facial-Recognition System
In a surprise move, Meta announced it would shut down Facebook’s facial-recognition system and delete the template it uses to recognize people in photos—“one of the largest shifts in facial recognition usage in the technology’s history,” Jerome Pesenti, Facebook’s VP of Artificial Intelligence, said at the time. He didn’t point to a single incident that prompted the decision, saying only that there are “growing concerns about the use of this technology as a whole.” But it came as facial-recognition systems (and Facebook in general) were under fire.
YouTube Dislike Counts
In a bid to prevent “dislike attacks,” YouTube this year opted to hide dislike counts on videos from the public. Only video creators can see how many dislikes a clip has received. The decision didn’t sit well with a lot of YouTube fans, including one of its co-founders, Jawed Karim. But YouTube argued that it’s “the right thing to do for our platform—to better protect creators from harassment [and] help ensure smaller creators and those just getting started can thrive.”
Instagram Threads
You’d be forgiven for not knowing this one even existed. Introduced in late 2019, shortly after the demise of Instagram’s standalone messaging app Direct, Threads was pitched as a “camera-first messaging app” that let you share photos, videos, messages, Stories, and more with your Instagram close friends list. Though it later expanded to allow for messaging to everyone, not just close friends, Threads never really caught on, given that you can DM inside the main Instagram app. It’s set to shut down by month’s end.
Cortana-Alexa Integration
Microsoft and Amazon in 2017 announced they were working to tie their voice assistants together. The ensuing partnership meant you could use an Amazon Echo device to summon Cortana to open up your Microsoft programs, such as Outlook. But in November, Microsoft confirmed that it dropped Cortana support on Alexa two months earlier and shifted its Cortana resources to focus on productivity within Microsoft 365. The fact that no one really noticed for two months should tell you why.
Spotify Car View
Spotify Car View served up a simplified Now Playing screen on the mobile app when connected to a vehicle’s entertainment system, but it disappeared this fall. A moderator on Spotify’s forums later confirmed the company had bid adieu to Car View. They didn’t really explain why, except to say that retiring Car View needed “to happen in an effort to make way for new innovations coming down the track.”
Dubsmash
After working for almost a year to integrate Dubsmash into Reddit, Dubsmash will shut down as a standalone platform on Feb. 22, 2022. At that point, “Dubsmash will no longer be available for download in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store; currently downloaded apps will stop functioning on the same date,” Reddit wrote in a November blog post.
Zillow Offers
For many, Zillow is where dreams of home ownership go to die. But still we return, favoriting overpriced apartments and absurd abodes. But did you know that Zillow itself may be to blame for your house-hunting blues? Turns out the company ran an algorithm-based house-flipping business, Zillow Offers, that scooped up homes on the cheap from motivated sellers, flipped them, and resold for a profit. At least that was the idea. As the housing market cooled off this fall, it “flummoxed Zillow’s algorithm,” the Wall Street Journal reported, and the company threw in the towel on the flipping business altogether.
December
Firefox Lockwise
Firefox Lockwise debuted in 2019 as a way for iOS and Android users to create, manage, and sync passwords across devices. Unlike other password managers, which are mostly browser-agnostic, Firefox Lockwise was specifically designed for use with its namesake web browser. But as of Dec. 13, the standalone apps were deprecated in favor of Firefox’s built-in password management tools.
Alexa.com
Don’t worry, Amazon’s virtual assistant isn’t going anywhere. Since 1996, Alexa.com has offered web traffic analysis and rankings. Perhaps you remember websites referencing their “Alexa rankings” back in the day. It was acquired by Amazon in 1999, but in a brief note posted on its website this month, the company said it’s “made the difficult decision to retire Alexa.com on May 1, 2022.” Its APIs will be retired on Dec. 15, 2022.
Google Toolbar
Before Google formally dipped its toes into browsers with Chrome in 2008, it relied on getting people to add toolbars to browsers like Internet Explorer. In the era before address/search bar combos, it saved you a few clicks when searching the web. As Ars Technica discovered, however, Google quietly shut down Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer this year after more than 20 years. Ars took it for one last spin before that happened, though, if you’re feeling nostalgic.
