Following the retirement of Groove Music’s streaming service earlier this year, Microsoft is preparing to kill off its apps for Android and iOS. As first spotted by Microsoft watcher Richard Hay on Twitter, Microsoft has quietly announced that the Groove apps for iOS and Android will be retired on December 1, 2018. After that date, the apps will no longer function.
“Your personal music files will still be available on OneDrive. You can access OneDrive online or through the OneDrive app on any supported device. To keep playing your music and playlists in Groove, use the Windows 10 Groove Music apps on PC, Xbox, or Windows Phone.
The company also added that Starting from today June 1st, users will no longer be able to access MP3 or audio files stored on Microsoft’s Onedrive via the Groove Music app. However, users will still be able to access those files directly via the Onedrive app on iOS and Android. That’s a vastly inferior way of handling music as users won’t have access to album art or music controls.
Truth be told, even if Microsoft’s announcement comes out of the blue, it’s not entirely a huge surprise, as Groove Music apps for iPhone and Android have enjoyed very limited success. There’s a good chance almost nobody is going to miss them.
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