Late last year, Microsoft purchased professional networking service LinkedIn for a whopping $26.2 billion. Hence, the company"s announcement of ending support for the platform"s Windows phone app back in January came as a lot of surprise for users of Microsoft"s mobile operating system. However, the firm quickly retracted its statement, saying that the email proclaiming end of support for the Windows phone app was sent by mistake.
However, it now appears that Microsoft is killing the LinkedIn app for Windows phones after all.
The company has sent out an email to Windows phone users yet again, saying that the mobile app is being retired. It says that the app won"t be functional on the operating system after August 31, 2017.
Moving forward, Windows phone users have been recommended to use their mobile browsers if they wish to continue using LinkedIn. In fact, the email has also detailed an elaborate procedure to pin the website to the Start Menu on Windows phones in order to access it quickly. It is important to note that the email mentions both the Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge mobile web browsers as alternatives, so support is not only being dropped for Windows Phone 8.1 - which recently reached end-of-support itself - but also Windows 10 Mobile.
The content of the email can be seen below:
@windowscentral Looks Like LinkedIn Is Coming To Windows Store On Desktops Soon, Based On Email I Got Today From LinkedIn pic.twitter.com/CEYIHeoajz
— Andrew Tech Help (@andrewtechhelp) July 13, 2017
That said, some users will be pleased to know that the company is working on launching a brand-new Windows Store app in the coming weeks - but the email makes it clear that it"s a "LinkedIn Windows desktop app", which therefore won"t be able to run on Windows 10 Mobile phones.
It"s certainly strange that mobile devices are not part of the strategy, keeping in view Microsoft"s push for a unified Universal Windows Platform (UWP). We have reached out to LinkedIn for confirmation, and will update if the company responds.
Source: Andrew Tech Help (@Andrewtechhelp)
Update: A LinkedIn spokesperson has responded to Neowin"s request for comment, saying that the company is dropping support for the Windows phone app in order to transition focus to the development of the Windows desktop-only app. The full statement reads as follows:
We are working closely with the Microsoft team to invest our efforts towards a new Windows desktop app coming this summer. As a result, we will be deprecating the LinkedIn Windows mobile app on August 30, 2017. Members can still access LinkedIn from their mobile device via the mobile Web.
*sigh*