It’s been a bad couple of weeks for apps that let you share contact information. Recently, I wrote about problems with CardMunch, the LinkedIn app that uses actual humans to read and transcribe business cards you scan with your mobile device. Now, Google has announced that it is shutting down Bump, the app that lets you share your contact information by simply holding your phone in your hand and bumping the phone of another Bump user. (See my post from February 2013 in which I discussed both CardMunch and Bump.)

Google, which bought Bump less than four months ago, announced this week that, effective Jan. 31, it will discontinue Bump and another app, Flock, a photo app that creates shared albums from friends who are at the same event. Both apps will be removed from the iTunes App Store and Google Play’s Android store.

The announcement gave no explanation, other than to say, “We are now deeply focused on our new projects within Google, and we’ve decided to discontinue Bump and Flock.”

I’ve had Bump on my iPhone for several years but, frankly, rarely used it. It only works with others who also have the app installed, and I rarely encountered other lawyers who had it.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.