Twitter's looping video app Vine is eventually destined for the scrap heap, but it will disappear in stages, with the ability to create videos continuing in 2017.
Vine announced on Friday that it will strip out most of the functionality from the app and rename it "Vine Camera" in January. Users will still be able to use the app to create six-second looping videos, which they can post directly to Twitter or save to their phones. But the standalone Vine service, as announced in October, will disappear.
It's unclear what will happen if you don't update the app and try to post to Vine, though it's likely that Twitter will simply block older versions of the app. As for the video loops that you've already uploaded, they'll still exist on Vine.co, and starting today you can also download them via the app or the website.
Vine plans to make it easy for your existing followers to follow you on Twitter, with an update to link accounts rolling out "in the coming days." An FAQ page walks you through this process, as well as explains how to download Vines (hint: if you want to save your comments and captions, you'll need to download an archive from the website, not the app).
With Friday's announcement, it appears that Vine remains firmly on the road to extinction, despite initial efforts to save it. The app's biggest stars reportedly banded together and pitched a plan they thought could save it before Twitter announced plans to kill off Vine in late October.