Facebook just killed off some of its failed apps

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slingshot

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Facebook's Slingshot messaging app, which is no more.

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Facebook is pulling the plug on several of its apps that have failed to gain traction in the App Store.

Slingshot, a Snapchat competitor that let users send self-destructing messages, is no more. The company also pulled Riff, an app that let people collaborate on shot videos. The group messaging app Rooms has also been shuttered.

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Facebook told CNET that it has incorporated elements of the shuttered apps into the main Facebook app.

Slingshot, Riff, and Rooms were all part of Facebook's Creative Labs, a small group within the company that worked on apps to complement the main Facebook and Messenger apps. Perhaps the most well know Creative Labs project is Paper, a magazine-like, ad-free way to use Facebook on the iPhone that hasn't been updated since March.

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Facebook Rooms app let users create group forums for all kinds of topics.

Other Creative Labs apps that are still available in the App Store and Google Play Store include the photo management app Moments, Facebook Groups, and the more recent Facebook Notify news app.

The Creative Labs website has also been taken down, suggesting that the Creative Labs team has been shut down entirely.

We've reached out to Facebook for more information about the future of Creative Labs and will update this story when we hear back.

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