Every tech product, app and website eventually has a last day, or a slow decline nobody announces. This series tracks what actually happened to the phones, gadgets, social networks, messengers and games that defined the 2000s and 2010s, with the dates, owners and sources behind each story.
Pick a topic below, or start with the overview pieces: the dead gadgets of the 2000s and 2010s, the old web platforms that shaped the internet, and the games everyone played.
Phones and mobile
The handset makers, platforms and features that ruled before the iPhone and Android settled everything.
- What Happened to BlackBerry Phones? The Full Story
BlackBerry went from smartphone leader to gone. Here is the full timeline, why it fell, what January 2022 shut off, and what the company…
- What Happened to Windows Phone
Windows Phone arrived late, never closed the app gap, and broke its own early adopters in 2012. Microsoft ended support in December 2019.
- What Happened to Nokia Phones and Symbian
Nokia went from 51% of the phone market to selling its handset business in three years. The Symbian collapse, the Microsoft deal, and what…
- What Happened to Palm and webOS?
HP bought Palm for $1.2 billion in 2010 and killed webOS 49 days after its flagship tablet launched. Here is the full story, and…
- What Happened to HTC Phones? The Full Story
HTC built the first Android phone, led the US market in 2011, fought Apple in court, then sold part of its team to Google.…
- What Happened to Sony Xperia Phones (Still Made in 2026)
Sony Xperia isn't dead. The sales collapse, the 2019 market pullback, 2025 outsourced manufacturing, and why Sony still ships it into a niche in…
- What Happened to Phones With Physical Keyboards?
Touchscreens didn't kill keyboard phones. Here's why nearly every maker exited within years of each other, and what still exists in 2026.
- Why Phones Lost the Headphone Jack
Apple didn't remove the jack first, and didn't say all of it either. The dated record: OPPO 2012, Apple 2016, Samsung's 2019 reversal, and…
- iPhone 4S and Siri: What the 2011 Launch Changed
The iPhone 4S launched Siri on October 4, 2011, one day before Steve Jobs died. Here is what the launch actually changed, dated and…
Gadgets that disappeared
Music players, wearables, cameras and living-room tech that sold millions, then quietly vanished.
- Dead Gadgets of the 2000s and 2010s
A map of the gadgets that ended between 2004 and 2018, grouped by what actually killed each one, with a full story behind every…
- What Happened to Pebble? The Smartwatch That Came Back
Pebble pioneered the smartwatch, ran out of cash, and sold to Fitbit in 2016. Here is the full story, and how its founder revived…
- The Smartwatches Before the Apple Watch
Apple didn't invent the smartwatch. From Microsoft's SPOT in 2004 to Pebble's 2012 Kickstarter, here is who built one first, and why most of…
- What Happened to Google Glass
Google Glass did not end in 2015. Consumer sales stopped then, but the enterprise version ran until March 2023. Here is the full timeline.
- Why Apple Discontinued the iPod
Apple ended the iPod in four stages between 2014 and May 2022. Here is what closed when, why it took twenty-one years, and where…
- What Happened to the Zune?
Microsoft launched the Zune in 2006, never caught the iPod, and discontinued all Zune hardware in 2011. Here is the real reason it failed.
- What Happened to MP3 Players? The Category’s Real Story
MP3 players died in two steps: the smartphone took the object, then streaming took the library. Here is the dated story, and who still…
- What Happened to the Flip Video Camera?
Cisco bought Flip's maker for about $590 million in 2009 and shut it down two years later. Here is why, and why it happened…
- What Happened to TomTom and Garmin GPS Units
Smartphones killed the dashboard GPS unit, but not the companies. Garmin got bigger, TomTom got smaller, and both survived by becoming something else.
- Why Netbooks Disappeared
Netbooks went from the fastest-growing category in computing to gone in five years. The iPad gets the credit, but Microsoft and Intel set it…
- Why 3D TVs Failed and Vanished
It was the glasses. The content shortage followed from them. Samsung dropped 3D in 2016, Sony and LG in 2017. Here is the full…
- What Happened to the Segway?
Segway launched in 2001 promising to reinvent transportation. Ninebot ended production in 2020. Here is what actually happened, and what replaced it.
- What Happened to the Xbox Kinect
Kinect sold 10 million units in 133 days and set a Guinness record. Microsoft discontinued it in 2017. Here is the full timeline and…
Social networks
The platforms that shaped how we shared online, and what became of each one.
- The Old Web: Platforms That Shaped the Internet, Then Vanished
GeoCities, Friendster, Vine, Google Reader, AIM. Four ways a platform dies, and why almost none of them died from being bad software.
- What Happened to MySpace? The Sourced Timeline
MySpace never shut down. The sourced timeline: the $580m News Corp deal, the $35m sale, the 2019 data loss, and who owns it in…
- What Happened to Friendster? Being First Was the Problem
It had the lead and lost it, then became a games site, then closed. The most interesting part is what happened to everybody's photos,…
- What Happened to Orkut? Brazil, India, and 2014
Orkut closed on September 30, 2014. The sourced timeline of why Google's first social network died in Brazil and India, and where the data…
- What Happened to Google Plus? The Real Shutdown
Google Plus closed on April 2, 2019 after two disclosed data bugs moved the date twice. The sourced timeline, the user numbers, the 2023…
- Facebook Features That No Longer Exist (Checked 2026)
Poke, Notes, Trending, Nearby Friends and more. Every Facebook feature that no longer exists, with the date it went and what replaced it.
- Failed Facebook Alternatives: Ello, Path and the Wave
Ello, Path, Diaspora and App.net all promised a better Facebook. What happened to each, with dates, and why the same pattern keeps repeating.
- What Happened to Tumblr? It Is Still Running, Much Smaller
A content policy change in 2018, then a sale to Automattic. Tumblr did not close, and the more useful question is what a platform…
- What Happened to Flickr? It Is Still There, Under New Owners
Flickr did not die. It was sold to SmugMug and the free tier was reduced, and the question people are really asking is whether…
- What Happened to Vine? Shutdown, Archive, Revival
Twitter shut Vine's app in 2017 and its archive later vanished. The sourced timeline, and how volunteers brought 100,000 Vines back in 2025.
- What Happened to Periscope and Meerkat? Live Became a Feature
Two apps raced to own live streaming, and then live streaming stopped being a product. It became a button inside everything, which is a…
- What Happened to Second Life? Nothing. It Is Still Running.
The answer nobody expects is that it never stopped. Which makes it the most useful thing on this site for judging what the metaverse…
Messengers and web services
Chat apps, readers, bookmarking and discovery tools that millions used every day.
- What Happened to AIM? It Ended on December 15, 2017
Twenty years, then a date. The away message was a broadcast medium before there were any, and its disappearance is the part worth understanding.
- What Happened to MSN Messenger? Two Migrations, One Dead End
Microsoft moved Messenger users to Skype in 2012. Skype was retired on May 5, 2025. The 2012 announcement's own link now lands on a…
- What Happened to Yahoo Messenger? It Ended in July 2018
Twenty years, then a shutdown, and users pointed at a group messaging app most had never heard of. The chat rooms had gone years…
- What Happened to Google Reader? The Announcement, Read Again
Google retired Reader on July 1, 2013. The announcement was item five of eight in a housekeeping post, and Google's stated reason was one…
- What Happened to Delicious? Bought Four Times, Then Frozen
Pinboard's owner bought Delicious in 2017 and put it into read-only mode. Saving links stopped being social because the platforms took the saving in-house.
- What Happened to StumbleUpon? Nothing Replaced the Button
A button that sent you somewhere you had not asked for. The reason nothing has replaced it is not technical, and it is the…
- What Happened to Digg? Did Reddit Kill It, or Did Digg?
A redesign the users rejected, on a site whose entire value was the users' judgment. That is a specific kind of failure and it…
- What Happened to Yahoo Answers? Dates and Archive
Yahoo Answers shut on May 4, 2021 and the questions were deleted, not archived. The sourced timeline, and where the surviving copies are.
Games
Mobile hits, browser games, virtual worlds and console fads, and where they went.
- Games Everyone Played in the 2010s: What Happened to Them
Angry Birds, Draw Something, FarmVille, Club Penguin and the rest. What actually happened to the games everyone played in the 2010s, with dates.
- What Happened to Angry Birds games? The Full 2009-2026 Story
Angry Birds didn't die. Here's the real timeline: the 2009 rise, the free-to-play fall, the movies, the delistings, and Sega's 2023 buyout.
- What Happened to Flappy Bird? The Full, Sourced Story
Flappy Bird was removed by its own creator on February 10, 2014. What happened, who owns the name now, and what officially exists in…
- What Happened to FarmVille? Every Version, With Dates
The original FarmVille closed on December 31, 2020 when Flash died. Which FarmVille ended when, why, and which ones are still running in 2026.
- What Happened to Club Penguin? Both Shutdowns, Dated
Club Penguin closed on March 29, 2017 and Club Penguin Island on December 20, 2018. Two shutdowns, two causes, and what officially exists now.
- What Happened to Guitar Hero and Rock Band? (2026)
Activision ended Guitar Hero in February 2011. What killed music games, what happened to Rock Band, and whether your plastic guitar still works.
- What Happened to Draw Something? (2026 Update)
Draw Something hit 35 million downloads in six weeks, Zynga paid $183.1 million for it, then wrote most of that off. Here is the…
- What Happened to Words With Friends? (2026)
Words With Friends never shut down. It changed hands twice, was replaced by a sequel in 2017, and is now a Take-Two property. The…
- What Happened to Temple Run and Endless Runners?
Temple Run launched August 4, 2011 and never shut down. Imangi still lists it, and the endless runner did not die. It consolidated. Here…
- Is Candy Crush Still Popular? What Happened to It
King says Candy Crush passed $20 billion in lifetime revenue and five billion downloads. It did not fade. It stopped being talked about. Here…
- What Happened to Pokemon Go? (September 2026)
Pokemon Go is still running, but Niantic sold it. Scopely closed the $3.5 billion deal on May 29, 2025 and renamed the team Scopely…
- What Happened to the Wii and Motion Gaming?
Nintendo sold 101.63 million Wii consoles, then the motion era ended. What killed it, which online services are gone, and whether your Wii still…
- What Happened to Flash Games? Where They Went
Adobe ended Flash Player on December 31, 2020 and blocked Flash content from January 12, 2021. Why Flash games died and how people play…
- What Happened to Neopets? Owners, Flash and 2026
Viacom paid about $160 million for Neopets in 2005. Then came JumpStart, NetDragon, an NFT detour and a 2023 buyout. Where Neopets stands in…
- What Happened to Habbo Hotel? The Full Story
Habbo was hit by a 2012 Channel 4 investigation, changed owners, left Flash and reopened its 2005 hotel as Origins. Where Habbo Hotel stands…
- What Happened to Old MMOs? RuneScape, MapleStory
RuneScape and MapleStory never closed. Jagex restored 2007 RuneScape in 2013, and Nexon's MapleStory Classic World is set for October 21, 2026.
- Why Game Servers Shut Down: Battlefield 3 and Old Games
EA switched off Battlefield 3 online play on PS3 and Xbox 360 on November 7, 2024. Why game servers shut down for old games,…
- What Happened to Pro Evolution Soccer? PES to eFootball
Konami dropped the Pro Evolution Soccer name in July 2021 for free-to-play eFootball. The rocky launch, PES 2021's shutdown and eFootball in 2026.
Pop culture
Viral moments and franchises that dominated the internet for a while.
- Why Was Gangnam Style So Popular? The Full Story
Why was Gangnam Style so popular? The catchy hook, the horse dance, the satire, and 2012 YouTube timing that made Psy the first video…
- Twilight Cast: Where Are They Now? (2026 Update)
The full Twilight cast, then and now. See where Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and the rest landed, updated for 2026.
More from the series
The newest additions to the series.
- Viral Internet Moments Explained: 2004 to 2015 Timeline
Viral internet moments explained in order, from Numa Numa to The Dress, with dates, record figures and the named source behind every number.
- TikTok agrees to pay Alabama at least $100 million in addiction suit
The platform resolved claims that it intentionally addicted young users, averting a trial set for next week.
- Charlie Bit My Finger: What Happened to the Famous Clip
Charlie bit my finger, what happened next: the 2007 upload, the view record, the ad money and the $760,999 NFT sale, dated and sourced.
- Ice Bucket Challenge: What Happened and What It Funded
Ice bucket challenge, what happened after 2014: where the $115 million went, which research held up, and which did not. Sourced and dated.
- Numa Numa Guy: What Happened to the 2004 Webcam Video
Numa numa guy, what happened: the 2004 Newgrounds upload that went viral before YouTube existed, the disputed 700 million views, and the 2023 return.
- Chocolate Rain, Tay Zonday Explained: Joke or Sincere?
Chocolate Rain, Tay Zonday explained: the 2007 song about racism the internet took as a joke, how it spread, its awards and its open…