HERE is pulling Maps from Windows 10 Store, ceases new development

According to a new post on the official HERE blog, HERE 360 will be removing all HERE apps from the Windows Store. As of March 29, HERE Maps, HERE Drive+, and HERE Transit will no longer be available on Windows Phone 8.1 or Windows 10 Mobile. HERE apps for Windows Phone 8 will continue to be supported (you STILL use Windows Phone 8?).

“We’ve been developing mobile maps applications for about 10 years, since the first smartphones came with GPS. As the market evolves, we keep in step by introducing our apps for new operating systems while stopping support for others. Although the essence of the HERE apps lives on in the Windows Maps app, we are removing the HERE branded apps from the Windows 10 store on March 29, 2016 and will limit the development of the apps for Windows Phone 8 to critical bug fixes.”

For Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 10 Mobile users, that means that HERE-branded apps will no longer be functional as of June 30, 2016. HERE 360 would have to invest money in building the apps from the “ground up,” which is a business scenario that they are not interested in pursuing.

So, HERE-branded apps will work until June 30, 2016, after that, Windows 10 Mobile will have to rely on the Windows Maps default application, but have hope, there should be some exciting features coming to Windows 10 Mobile Maps soon.

The loss of HERE Maps is nothing to be upset about, I know of a couple awesome improvements coming to the Win10 Maps app soon 🙂

— Zac Bowden (@zacbowden) March 15, 2016

Do you rely on HERE Maps? Do you prefer HERE Drive+? Let us know in the comments below.