Beluga group messaging shutting down on December 15th, Facebook Messenger to fill void

Beluga, a group messaging service on iOS and Android, will be shutting down on December 15th following its acquisition by Facebook this past spring. The Beluga team and its software appears to have been integrated into Facebook Messenger, a stand-alone messaging app for iOS, Android, and BlackBerry. In a statement on Beluga’s website, the three founders say that their service is being shut down because it duplicates some of Facebook Messenger’s functionality. Beluga will likely be remembered for its simple approach to a big problem — meeting up with a group of friends — and for what it’s worth, Facebook’s solution seems to have taken Beluga’s approach to heart. If you currently use Beluga, you’ll want to know that you won’t be able to send messages after November 11th, and that you’ll have until December 15th to download an archive of your messages before they’re deleted forever.