Meta’s private messaging app for couples is shutting down

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

There is a social experiment that is shutting down. If you are like me, you will probably never hear of Tuned.

The Tuned app was launched in 2020 when Meta was still Facebook. The app was developed by Meta's New Product Experimentation team. Couples can send notes to each other through Tuned. There are games that couples can play to get to know each other better.

The app will be shutting down on September 19th. Users can download their data on that date. Tuned doesn't provide a reason as to why it's getting discontinued, and its app pages on both the App Store and the Play store don't offer any other details The Verge reached out to Meta, but didn't hear back.

The reviews and ratings of Tuned seemed to be well received by couples. According to Sensor Tower data, Tuned has been downloaded almost one million times.

It is possible that Tuned's shutdown is related to when it was released. Perhaps fewer couples are using the app now that movement restrictions have been lifted.

Meta's N PE group doesn't have the best track record for creating products that stick. The video speed dating app was shut down. Lasso was a short-lived video sharing app. The list includes Aux, Hotline, Whale, and others.