Facebook to Kill Photo Sync; Asks Users to Move to Moments App

Facebook is shutting down the photo syncing feature from its mobile app. The company has started to alert users that from January 10 those who wish to privately upload photos from their phone will need to use Moments, a standalone app the company released earlier this year.

The social juggernaut says that users have until January 10 to move their photos to the Moments app. "Starting this week, we are beginning to phase out Facebook's photo syncing feature," a Facebook spokesperson told Tech Insider. "People that use photo syncing will have the option to move the photos they've previously synced to our new app Moments, where they will be able to view, download, or delete them."

Launched in 2012, Facebook's photo sync offers users the option to upload and take a backup of their photos from their mobile device. Users also have the option to automatically backup photos from the camera roll. These photos were shared to a private album on Facebook where they could be later edited, shared or deleted. The Moments app, which was launched in June, also comes with these features while also offering face recognition technology. The company is offering an intelligent algorithm to help sort and share photos.

This isn't the first time Facebook has killed an app and asked users to switch to a different app should they wish to continue the features. Last year, the company announced that it is removing the ability to message people from Facebook app, and asked users to use Messenger if they wanted to message or call their Facebook friends.

Those who don't wish to move their photos to Moments app, the company said that they can download a zip file of their synced photos on their computer, and also delete them from Facebook.