Zenly, the Popular Friend Location Sharing App, Will Shut Down February 3rd. Why?

Although Zenly has grown in popularity throughout European and Asian countries over the past decade, Snapchat’s parent company, Snap, has decided to close the business. At this time, February 3rd, 2023 has been set for the closing of Zenly. Many users are starting to realize that they’ll soon need to find a new location sharing app to use with friends and family.

What is Zenly?

Zenly is a unique location sharing app that originated out of Paris, France, in 2011. The premise of the mobile app was to allow friends to easily see and share their location with each other on an interactive map. What made Zenly stand out amongst its competitors was its focus on making the map the star of the application. 

With the addition of fun and interactive features such as Share Your World, in-app messaging, customizable maps with favorite places, and real-time location, Zenly quickly became one of the top 10 social apps for IOS and Android. 

Zenly Shut Down Date

According to this article from Tech Crunch, Zenly will officially be shutting down on February 3rd, 2023.

Why is Zenly Shutting Down?

Even though Zenly has more than 40 million users actively utilizing the interactive social mapping app, Snap has decided to shut the company down. 

The move is a big surprise for many people as the app is one of the most widely used social apps in European and Asian countries. However, to those who work internally, the move to close Zenly was one that didn’t shock employees. Snap announced that it would be laying off around 20% of its employees as a company.

While Zenly was popular amongst its users, the app hadn’t found a way to start monetizing its large user base. Without the ability to generate meaningful profit for the parent company, Snap decided to permanently close Zenly and divert its attention to other products like Snapchat. 

Share location with friends on Life360

As Zenly slowly begins the process of shutting down operations and closing the app, users should explore other location sharing apps they can use with their friends. One popular alternative that has seen a significant spike in user downloads is Life360. 

Download Life360 As a New Alternative to Zenly

The closing of Zenly will impact millions of people across the globe, but thankfully there are other alternative friend-tracking apps available. With options like Life360, users can quickly migrate to the new platform and pick up where they left off — interacting and sharing experiences with their friends on a dynamic social map. 

Life360 offers free membership to anyone looking to try out the platform and experience the app’s unique features.