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Want Google to erase your data? Just wait for it to kill off one of its apps

Ad giant bumps off Bump, socks Flock with rock, pours photos down drain

Google will this month kill off its file-transfer app Bump and photo-sharing utility Flock – and erase your data with it.

After January 31, "neither app will work, and all user data will be deleted," said David Lieb, CEO and co-founder of the software's maker Bump – which was gobbled by Google in September.

Support for Bump and Flock will end, and the programs will be pulled from Apple and Google's app stores at the end of the month. Users must run a migration tool to preserve data they have on the Bump and Flock services.

"Over the years, we’ve been inspired and humbled by the millions of people who have used Bump and Flock. Your feedback, enthusiasm, and support has brought much meaning to our work, and we want to thank you all for that," Lieb said in a blog post announcing the shutdown.

"In many ways, Bump was a revolutionary product that inspired many subsequent advances and helped push the world forward."

Bump allowed users to transfer photos between phones and other handheld gadgets, while Flock shared photo albums with friends and family. Both tools were available for iOS and Android; a web-based version was built for desktop systems.

While sudden, the shutdown of Bump was expected in the wake of Google's acquisition of the company. The deal, which was rumored to be in the $30m to $60m range, was largely seen as a move to bring fresh talent into Google's growing line of devices.

Lieb said that following the shutdown of both Bump and Flock, the Bump team will shift its attention to new mobile tools within the advertising giant.

Culling products is a regular sport for Google: the much-heralded Wave was axed in 2010, for instance. Just last year, the popular Reader service was killed as well as Gmail's support for the Internet Explorer 9 web browser. ®

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