Support for Windows Phone 8.1 operating system ended on July 11, 2017. As a culmination of the end of support process, the Windows Phone 8.1 Store will shut down on December 16, 2019. Lumia phones using Windows Phone 8.1 and any apps that have already been downloaded from the Store may continue to work after this date.
Any Lumia device that can’t be upgraded to Windows 10 Mobile will be affected.
Although this is of course not a guarantee for what will happen with Windows 10 Mobile, I expect that that store might stay open for a similar time (2.5 years) after the end of support for Windows 10 Mobile by the end of this year. Of course none of the software running on Windows 10 Mobile is expected to receive anymore updates so next week I will move my mother from her 1520 to a Samsung Galaxy A50 which will finally end my families Windows Phone experience
(the most important reason for my mother to switch phones is the constant nagging of WhatsApp that it will stop working in December)
A while back I finally got a 950 XL and have been using it as my daily driver for I think over a year now. It is my favorite phone. Sadly apps have stopped working one by one and I’m about to be forced back to either android or iOS as a result.
It’s sad they didn’t stick with it long enough to give people a chance to really discover these. Or to work out the last few remaining minor kinks.
The Cortana assistant for true eyes-free text messaging while driving amazes people still when they are in my car and “see” what it can do.
I also really like the UI, which I hated on the computer, but on the phone all the tiles make sense. Especially when you can resize them as needed, and the larger tiles give you a summary of what’s going on without having to open the app. Between the tiles and the notification summaries, I can instantly see if something is urgent and needs my attention right away or if I can put the phone done and stay focused on what I was working on.
And the ability to cast to a monitor or TV, or dock and use monitor, keyboard, and mouse, that’s been a cool feature to have. Has come in handy a few times.
I really wish MS would bring the tiles to Android if they aren’t going to try and come back to the phone market on their own. I find those tiles quite handy, and miss them when I return to the Android world. The Microsoft launcher is OK, but without the tiles it’s just another theme on top of the android GUI.
Oh well, it’s been a good run. I’ll hang on to it as long as I can.
Now that MS is open-sourcing most of the .NET infrastructure, maybe some enterprising individual(s) can recreate the missing pieces and offer an alternative app store, much like the folks did with the Pebble watch (https://www.osnews.com/story/130794/rebble-with-a-cause-how-pebble-watches-were-granted-an-amazing-afterlife/)