Back in September, Snap, Inc. announced 20% cutbacks in employees, as well as shutting down services within the company. Among them was the popular location-sharing app, Zenly. This news came as devastating information to its 40 million loyal users, who immediately started questioning “when will Zenly shut down actually?”
In this article, we explore why Zenly is shutting down, when is the Zenly shutdown date, and what users can do to prepare.
What is Zenly?
Zenly was first created in 2011 in Paris. The app allows close friends to check each others’ locations through its map interface. Zenly also offers many fun interactive features like sending friends emojis or playing with 3D landmarks.
The app has seen massive growth since its launch and its acquisition by Snap, Inc. in 2017. The app has had 160 million downloads to date and has been extremely popular in countries like Russia, Japan, and Taiwan.
Why is Zenly Shutting Down?
The official statment from Zenly’s website states the following:
unfortunately, the current economic climate made it difficult for zenly to sustain its operations.
we’re happy that you got to enjoy zenly, to emoji-spam your friends on the move, to send a what’s up at the perfect moment, to join your friends when they’re together… but it’s time for us to say goodbye 😢 zenly will always love you
https://community.zen.ly/hc/en-us/articles/11084230178577-when-will-zenly-shut-down-
When will Zenly shut down?
Zenly has recently updated their website to announce the official Zenly shutdown date as February 3rd, 2023.
How can I continue using Zenly?
Within the same website, Zenly asks its users to continue using Snap Map, a feature within Snapchat. However, they do not offer whether Zenly users will be able to carry over their account from Zenly to Snap Map. It remains unknown whether Snap Map will be able to carry all the features available in Zenly.
Because of this uncertainty, users who would still like to share their location started looking for the best Zenly alternatives. Out of the alternatives discussed, it appears that the leading app is iSharing.
Is iSharing the best Zenly replacement?
iSharing is a location-sharing and safety app for family and friends. The app first launched in 2016 and has successfully garnered 30 million users to date. The app is highly popular in East Asian countries, such as South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, as well as in the United States, where its HQ is based.
While iSharing does not offer some of the interactive features of Zenly, it offers highly accurate location sharing for friends — the most important feature of Zenly. iSharing uses Google Maps and Apple Maps to provide map information and boasts its technology that minimizes battery usage.
Plus, the app’s simple and straightforward interface allows Zenly users to adapt the app for their usage pretty easily. While most location-sharing apps in the market were created in order to be used by family units, iSharing lets users to add friends and message each other on an individual basis. Zenly users who are looking to share their location with multiple friendsthat may be outside their immediate family group can therefore easily set up an iSharing account to continue sharing location with hem.
Want to give iSharing a try? Learn more about the app or download today!
