Microsoft is retiring HockeyApp on November 16, 2019

Microsoft revealed that it is sunsetting HockeyApp, the beta-testing service for app developers, on November 16, 2019.

Members of the developer community reported receiving notifications from Microsoft regarding the closure earlier today, and HockeyApp has since posted a message on its blog confirming the news.

By way of a quick recap, Microsoft acquired HockeyApp back in 2014, shortly after Apple snapped up Burstly, a company that operated a service similar to HockeyApp called TestFlight.

At the time of its acquisition, Microsoft said it planned to integrate various facets of HockeyApp into Visual Studio Online.

Exactly a year ago, Microsoft revealed that it was transitioning users’ HockeyApp apps over to the Visual Studio App Center, in what it assured users would be a “seamless transition process.”

So today’s news comes as little surprise, even though Microsoft did launch a brand new HockeyApp client for Android just seven months ago. Microsoft was already syncing HockeyApp with App Center and had already rolled out some developer features exclusive to App Center — the writing was very much on the wall.