Facebook kills infamous Snapchat-like app

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Facebook has killed its camera-centric app for high-schoolers which was "secretly" launched almost a year ago, US news outlet Business Insider reported on Tuesday.

The company confirmed that it removed the standalone app Lifestage on August 4 as it never made it to the spotlight on the App Store.

The app, launched last year by Facebook's then 19-year-old employee Michael Sayman, was intended to provide a platform where high school students could connect with classmates through selfies and videos.

The app was aimed at a very specific demographic, with people over 21 prohibited from registering.

However, it was relatively easy to use a fake identity to register, which raised concerns over underage children's safety and privacy.

According to Statista, Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram were the most popular social media sites among US teenagers as of 2017.

As two of the company's products fought their way into the top three, Lifestage didn't gain enough traction to de-throne Snapchat.

But it is not all bad news for Facebook.

Lifestage has provided the company with feedback to inform its other apps. Facebook's Instagram was set to compete with Snapchat with its new "Snapchatty" Story feature.

The photo-sharing social platform hit 200 million daily active users in April this year, surpassing Snapchat's users by almost 40 million.

Facebook has teamed up with many individuals and companies Chinese tech firm Meitu, best known for its photo beautifying app, to make AR effects for Facebook's camera function. /Meitu

Facebook also teamed up with several designers and engineers earlier this year to bring more Augmented Reality (AR) features to its apps with built-in camera functions.

And the company will continue to please teenagers with lessons they have learned in the past.

“Teens continue to make up an important part of the global community on Facebook, and we’ve learned a lot from Lifestage. We will continue to incorporate these learnings into features in the main Facebook app,” a Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider on Tuesday.