A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the removals to The Verge but provided no further comment.
It’s no mystery why Facebook pulled Poke without so much as a goodbye blog post.
The app likely served as a constant reminder that it takes more than a few talented engineers to beat Snapchat, one of Facebook’s increasingly important rivals.
Poke was in fact far more functional than the often-glitchy Snapchat when it launched in December 2012, and included more features — but likely failed for a variety of reasons, ranging from Facebook’s “open” public perception to the simple fact that Snapchat got to “ephemeral messaging” first.
Related: How Can I See the List Of People Who Have Poked Me On Facebook?
Facebook spent 12 days building Poke, the story goes — the app was clearly not a big priority for Facebook — but that didn’t stop members of the press from repeatedly reminding Zuckerberg (who provided the voice for Poke’s alert sound) of the app’s failure as time went on.
POKE LIKELY SERVED AS A REMINDER THAT IT TAKES MORE THAN A FEW TALENTED ENGINEERS TO BEAT SNAPCHAT
Camera, on the other hand, was a largely well-regarded app that was at one point used to upload multiple photos to Facebook.
Before Camera’s launch, you could only pick photos one by one to upload from a smartphone.
The camera’s attractive image picker eventually made its way into Facebook’s main app on both iPhone and Android, where you can still find it today, and formed part of the foundation for Facebook’s native iPhone app launch in summer 2012.
As Facebook dives headfirst into its Creative Labs exploration, a group of small teams that will build standalone apps for Facebook, the company seemingly wanted to bury its past, experimental attempts at “unbundling.”
Paper, the first app to come out of Creative Labs, sets a very high bar for upcoming releases.
Will Creative Labs ever let you Poke again?
Don’t count on it.
Facebook Poke Application
Poke symbols are simply small images of a hand with a finger pointing and the name of the person who sent the poke to you. If you have been poked, the image will show up on your home page. Only you can see the poke once you receive it.
Depending upon your notification settings, you may also receive a notification informing you of the poke.
POKE APP
In addition to the standard poke, Facebook also has a poke app that allows you to send a message, photo, or video that only displays for a limited amount of time such as 1, 3, 5, or 10 seconds.
The recipient must also have the poke app on their phone, and these pokes cannot be viewed or sent from a desktop.
To poke someone via the poke app:
– Download the app onto your phone.
– Log into your Facebook account in the app.
– Confirm that you want to use the app under that name.
– Select “Poke a friend with a message, video, or chat.”
– Type in the name of your friend or select a name from your list of contacts.
– Type in your message, and select a photo or video. If you want to add text to a photo or video, tap the screen and hold, and then type in your message or draw on the photo.
– Select how long you want the message to display.
– Hit “Send.”
To view a poke you have received, just tap and hold the message, photo or video until the time runs out. Removing your finger from the screen will cause the message, photo, or video to disappear.
Once it’s gone, it cannot be viewed.
Related: Send Pokes to your Facebook Friends