One thing that people have observed about Sony lately is that they seem to be moving away from their own apps even as they continue to produce smartphones. They have subsetted several apps over the years and one of them may be joining the app graveyard as well. Owners of the new Xperia 1 II are noticing that their new device is not supporting the Sony Album app anymore. And of course, Lifelog will go offline after July 2020, as they previously announced.
The Xperia 1 II is a pretty great smartphone but long-time Sony users were disappointed when they saw that the Album app was not pre-installed on the device. According to Xperia Blog, you could download it from the Google Play Store but once installed and launched, it actually doesn’t work. This may actually mean that the app will soon be discontinued which is sad because it was one of their best ones and a good alternative to other photo apps on Sony devices.
The Album app let you view and browse high-quality photos and videos and lets you share them on online services. But if you look at the changelog of the app on the Google Play Store, you’ll notice that they have been discontinuing several of its useful features. So its supposed and apparent demise may not come as a surprise if you’ve been paying attention.
Speaking of apps that are being discontinued, the Lifelog app’s journey is about to come to an official end. The fitness app will go offline by July 30, 2020 and will stop logging and syncing activities by then. Your old data will still be there on your device but if you uninstall it by August 1, then all the information will be deleted. If you want to keep the data, you’ll have to export it from the profile menu.
While some OEMs have continued to develop and push their own apps, it seems that Sony is going the other way. Maybe they’ll be announcing a new app partnership or plan going forward soon. In the meantime, RIP Lifelog and possibly Album app.
