Here is why 500px ended support for Windows Phone and Windows 8 apps

While Microsoft is doing hard to attract consumers among the competition, there is another wicket down from their Windows Phone Store. The famous photography community 500px discontinued its apps for Windows and Windows Phone.

If you didn’t know, a week ago 500px users reportedly received email notices to alert that the support of the app for Windows Phone, Windows 8 and Google Chrome OS will be ended by the end of April 2015. Now when it’s May 1st, the app on the Windows Phone has stopped working – although is still present in the Windows Phone Store by the time of writing.

As the 500px community grows, we’re faced with the ongoing challenge of reevaluating our product lineup. This ensures our team can focus on the products that will enable and reward visual creativity for the most people at the highest standards of quality.

With that in mind, I’m writing to share that our Windows Phone, Windows 8 and Google Chrome OS applications will be discontinued at the end of April. Members using these devices are encouraged to use our website at 500px.com.

Thank you for your support and understanding.

This only has been a year, when an app for 500px first launched on Windows Phone platform, although iOS and Android were having the support of the photography community earlier since 2012.  The app stats and reviews on Windows Phone show that it was not as popular as it has been on other platforms.

To clearly say, it’s not just like another photography or image sharing website where any user comes, joins, and start sharing. Instead 500px community is popular among enthusiasts and professionals more than any other users. The lack of interest towards 500px app from the users on Windows Phone is directly related to fact that it was way too late to launch on the platform when most of the community members were already using it on their Android and iOS devices. Even if not all of them, then the truth is, the overall user base on Android and iOS is also way too big than it is on Windows Phone platform which is the main reason developers first think to start developing for Windows Phone.

The same factor also applies on other apps and services, they also may want to stop working on their Windows Phone apps if they are not getting much appreciations, reviews on regular basis. But targeting more common users on smartphones help them expand their user base on any platform which was not the case with 500px on Windows Phone. In the whole one year their app received only 490 reviews from US store and only 2 digit reviews on other regional stores while in Google Play store the app has more than 30,000 reviews overall whereas in Apple iTunes the app reviews are also in thousands.

It’s just that as 500px community is now growing also among the users instead of only among the enthusiasts, I think they really should have waited for the decision of discontinuing their app for Windows Phone as it’s only been a year. Just like them, the platform is also evolving and their members who use Windows Phone also have equal right to use their services.

Being a member at 500px myself and having access to the 500px app on Windows Phone, I liked and instantly reviewed the app on the Microsoft’s platform when it launched on the platform. But it’s a real sad news I’ll not be able to access such a wonderful community on my phone. However their are third-party apps on Windows Phone which let you access photos from the community but an official app will be missed and there is not an alternative to it.

We hope for Microsoft to do good enough to attract consumers as well as developers.