Windows Phone, Which Was Already Dead, Gets Another Stake Through Its Corpse

Photo: AP

In October, Microsoft admitted that its Windows Phone line was pretty much totally dead after failing to attract app developers and its market share plummeted from 0.8 percent to 0.1 percent by t 2017, with even corporate vice president for Windows Joe Belfiore saying that he had switched to Android. Instead, the company looked an awful lot like it was transitioning to porting its own apps for the competition, iOS and Android, though Belfiore said current owners of its line could expect continued updates.

Now, per the Verge, Microsoft has pulled out a stake and driven it right through the Windows Phone’s lifeless heart by announcing it is ending support for mobile push notifications. As of February 20th, 2018, Microsoft has announced the following changes for Windows Phone 7.5 and 8.0:

Your phone will no longer receive notifications.

Your phone will not receive additional live tile updates.

The “Find my phone” feature will no longer locate your phone.

Notification services would continue to work on Windows Phone 8.1 “at this time,” Microsoft added, while all functionality will continue to be regular for Windows 10 Mobile. As MakeUseOf noted, there’s a clear message: any remaining owners of the affected phones “really need to consider your life choices,” and more features are likely to be vanish into thin air as Microsoft winds down whatever remaining resources are supporting phones released as far back as the start of the decade.