Facebook will fully retire its Parse mobile development platform on Jan. 28, 2017.
Parse co-founder Kevin Lacker announced the platform's retirement in a blog post last week, noting his company will "focus [its] resources elsewhere."
"We're proud that we've been able to help so many of you build great mobile apps," he wrote. "We enjoyed working with each of you, and we have deep admiration for the things you've built."
Parse also unveiled a database migration tool that enables users to migrate data from the Parse app to any MongoDB database, along with an open source Parse Server that lets users run most of the Parse API from their own Node.js server.
We're retiring our services on January 28, 2017. Here are two tools to help you transition: https://t.co/BiAR6menJc pic.twitter.com/knR4dRVkCX
— Parse (@ParseIt) January 29, 2016
So what does Parse's retirement mean for mobile developers?
For many developers, it may force them to rebuild their apps from scratch.
@ParseIt @facebook you guys have let my team down for the faith we had in Facebook. Not going to use Facebook technology again. #NotoReact
— Anant Bhandarakar (@anantmb) January 29, 2016
Parse's retirement also caused many questions and concerns to resurface about Facebook's acquisition of the mobile development platform in April 2013.
@ParseIt seems like not so long ago whenI expressed my concerns about the FB acquisition pic.twitter.com/3VcwWiRk9Y
— Jay Chulani (@jchulani) January 28, 2016
Fortunately, Firebase and other Parse alternatives are available.
Not a great day for app developers :( Firebase is healthy & actively working on many new exciting features here at Google #parse
— Firebase (@Firebase) January 28, 2016
But for some developers, not all Parse alternatives are created equal.
@VStack_Platform Do you have support and Libraries for Android, IOS, .Net and Arduino? No? ... Then you are not an alternative.
— Abraão Caldas (@ajscaldas) January 28, 2016