Microsoft support ends for numerous Lumia Windows Phone apps and services on

Microsoft announced Friday that it will cease development of several apps Nokia developed for Windows Phone as the company streamlines the photo experience on Windows 10 Mobile.

Nokia Lumia 630 has yet been confirmed for the upgrade, but there’s a high chance that Microsoft will offer a Windows 10 Mobile update for this particular smartphone as well.

Here’s the list of Lumia apps that were pulled the Windows Phone Store this morning: Lumia Storyteller, Lumia Beamer, Photobeamer, and Lumia Refocus. It’s bad news for people who rely on software like Lumia Beamer, which allows users to display a still from a phone’s screen on another device, but it’s not clear exactly how many people will be affected by the change.

Microsoft has started to take down numerous Windows Phone apps from the Windows Phone Store citing end of support for these apps and services after 30 October. Lumia Panorama and Video Uploader will continue to function, but will lack support and won’t be updated going forward. This is effective immediately.

While it’s hard to figure out what these improvements and bug fixes actually are, it’s really important to get this new version of app, especially if you’re a Windows Insider and plan to install every build the company plans to release. And Lumia Panorama and Video Upload should work in limited form (i.e. with no online services support).

“Many of the Lumia features are already included in the Windows 10 Photos and Camera apps”. To keep the images and videos in your online stories, open the Storyteller app, select online stories, and view each published story on the web.

Why is Microsoft doing this? The reason for the planned phase out, according to a company blog post is to consolidate the functionality of many of these individual apps into the coming Windows 10 Camera and Photo apps. “In order to do that, [it will] need to focus on making [its] Windows 10 core Photos and Camera apps great”.