Facebook is trying to convince users of its social network to use the company's photo-sharing app by promising to remove all images synced from the main Facebook app. The social giant is threatening to delete automatically backed-up photos and has given people a July 7 deadline to install the Moments app. It was launched in June 2015.
Many smartphone owners use the 2012-launched syncing feature of the world's largest social network. The company promised mobile users would get unlimited automatic image uploads from their handsets to a private Facebook photo album, according to The Guardian.
This functions as a way for people to back up their photos. It is similar to other services including Google's Photos, Apple's iCloud Photos, and Yahoo's Flickr.
Photos and videos shared on Facebook that are not from the synced album will not be affected. Users can download the photos before Facebook removes them in early July.
In January Facebook had already stopped supporting automatic photo syncing from its main app, which then required users to install the Moments app to keep uploading their snapped photos. Now it is requiring Moments to sync photos.
Facebook explains that the privately-synced photos were moved to Moments earlier this year. People who do not want to use Moments should download the images from their Facebook profile to their computer before July 7.
This is not the first time the social network has taken such actions. It recently required smartphone owners to install a dedicated Messenger app so they could continue sending Facebook instant messages. It now has 900 million users.
The goal is to create a new gargantuan platform. It pushes its user base to install the new apps and attracts new Facebook users.
Moments is now skyrocketing on app charts. In the United States it is the third most popular free iOS app, No. 2 on Google Play, and topping the charts for photo/video apps.
In related news, a Facebook group in Austin, Texas has pre-launched a new ride-sharing app, according to Daily Texan Online. It follows Uber and Lyft leaving the city on May 9.
Facebook group Arcade City already operates in other cities around the United States, and recently expanded to Austin. The donation-based group is based on small groups of riders/drivers called "pods" and individuals.
Here's an AI photo-sharing feature for Moments: