How to Move on When Your Favorite Service Stops Working
There is nothing more heartbreaking than when one of your favorite services that you rely on every day announces its closure. It’s pain, but you don’t just have to accept it. Here’s how to find a replacement that doesn’t suck.
Blast From The Past is a weekly feature on Lifehacker in which we bring old but still relevant posts to life for your reading and hacking enjoyment. This week, in celebration of the closure of Grooveshark , we’re looking for something new. (Watch out for the fifth hive on this week !)
When I heard that Wunderkit , the service we mentioned earlier and which I use all the time, was closing the store, I was heartbroken. I understand the reasons for this , but that doesn’t mean it sucks. Many of you felt the same way when Google announced the closure of iGoogle.
Web apps come and go, and we learn to live with frustration, but that doesn’t mean you have to take it lying down. For every app you use, there is an alternative that your business will love. In this post, we’ll show you how to find them.
Step one: gather your data and prepare to be disappointed
When you know that the service is closing, the first thing you need to do is collect whatever you put into it. Some companies, such as Google or Facebook, try to make your data always available to you. Others announce that they close first and then say that they will make your data available to you before it closes. If you can export your data, do it sooner rather than later. You don’t want to get carried away in a crazy rush to get photos before your favorite image sharing service goes offline (as I was when PicPlz closed its doors a few months ago).
Of course, you don’t have to wait for those in power to take your data and leave. We showed you how to retrieve your data when a web application is shutting down and how to prevent it from being overblocked in the future. Sometimes the best defense against disappointing news is diversifying across multiple services and keeping a local copy of whatever you send to the Internet . Next time, check if the service allows you to export your data before you start investing. Until then, download whatever you can in any of the commonly used file formats — you’ll need your data later.
Step two: look for obvious alternatives
Once you’ve got the data, check out the obvious alternatives that you might not have tried. For example, if a Google service shuts down, chances are there is a Microsoft or Yahoo competitor available in one form or another . You’ll have to research if the obvious replacement is good – or even has the functionality you want – that’s what you want, but it’s best to start looking around the big names so you don’t get stuck in the same situation again.
At this point, if you are supporting an outsider and they are shutting down, consider whether your support is really more important than the time and effort required to switch to a new service. Sometimes choosing a market leader is a good option, not because he is necessarily better, but because he will stay in the market for the longest time. For example, when PicPlz closed, I could have switched to another great Instagram alternative instead of Instagram itself, but in the end I caved in and tried Instagram. This was partly because my friends were using it, but partly because I didn’t want to deal with switching services a second time. Also, be alert if your service dies and comes back to life. Some services (like XMarks ) sell out at the last minute , while others (like Quicksilver ) are open source and selected by someone else .
Step three: talk to other unhappy users
So you’ve backed up your data, looked for obvious replacements, but aren’t quite sure which one is the right one for replacement. Before the service in question goes down completely, head to the user thread or support forums to find out what the community is talking about. Often, users band together and choose a particular alternative that is reputedly the closest possible replacement for a service they once loved.
For example, when I discovered that ReQall , the to-do app I once loved , had suspended development, I became suspicious of the company’s fate. A visit to their Get Satisfaction page showed that many users were disappointed too. Some hope the company is back to business, but most leave the ship and are not afraid to tell you instead who they think deserves their money. The same is true for any service: you might have to work a little bit to get some good options, but the important thing is that you collect a few alternatives to test.
Step 4: use these tools and services to discover applications
If you still can’t find good alternatives to your favorite services but have to give up, there is a whole market for “application discovery” services ready to direct you to web applications, downloads, and services that they think will work. for you. Here are some options to try:
- AlternativeTo : just enter the name of the service you want to switch from or that is shutting down, and AlternativeTo will respond with a brief about the application and some alternatives in the same niche, sorted by popularity. You can even sort by platform if you’re looking for desktop apps.
- OSAlt : You don’t have to be a fan of open source software to use OSAlt to find alternatives to popular desktop applications. Their database is a bit limited, but if you don’t want to spend money on a new version of Microsoft Visio, for example, they have at least five options from which you can choose.
- Yummy : It’s old like everyone else, but one of my friends on Google+ reminded me that a quick search by product category or app type, like “task manager” or “to-do manager” in Delicious, will bring up thousands of suggestions and reviews.
- Crosswalk : If you’re leaving a mobile app or service, Crosswalk is a great way to see what your friends are using, view recommended apps based on your installed ones, and learn about new and upcoming apps. But this is only iOS.
- Discovr Apps : Discovr Apps is our favorite iPhone app search tool mainly because it gives you an interactive map of apps to explore using whatever app you have or want to try as a starting point. It’s an easy way to navigate the app store without having to go to the less useful Related Apps section.
- Appreciate : Android users looking for their own app discovery network can try Appreciate, a new service that offers you apps based on the ones you’ve installed and shows you alternatives for each app on Google Play.
- AppBrain : AppBrain is still a great option for Android users who want to learn more about specific apps without digging into Google Play. Google Play does a great job of presenting related apps to you, but AppBrain still does what Google Play doesn’t: offer apps specifically for you based on what you already have on your phone.
- Lifehacker App Catalog : It would be an oversight if we didn’t mention our own app and service catalog. In each category for each platform, we pick the app we think is the best, explain why, and list the competitors and alternatives in case you disagree with our conclusion. If you’re looking for a more crowdsourced approach to cataloging apps or services, check out our Hive Five series, where we ask you, the community, what do you think is the best in the category, and share your answers.
Keep in mind that none of these options can give you an honest and direct comparison between the services that real people have to offer – for example, those who are also unhappy that their favorite service is being shut down. Application discovery services have great algorithms, but unlike humans, they cannot tell you if an application actually has the functionality you want. Don’t overlook the forums or your Facebook or Twitter friends!
Step Five: Consider Riding Your Own
In the worst case, you may not find a replacement that you feel comfortable switching to. Maybe the alternatives you found do not have the functionality you need or are also teetering on the brink of shutdown. It may be time to take matters into your own hands and build your own replacement. You can develop your own using your programming skills and communities like GitHub where you can find others working on similar projects, but you don’t even need to go that far. If there is nothing to satisfy your imagination, roll up your sleeves with your own hands. Photo by Michal Hadassah .
It may sound intimidating, but we showed you how to create your own Dropbox / Megaupload style file sharing service , your own personal VPN , your own Find My iPhone for Android , even your own streaming media service and pseudo-Google Subsonic and Plex music replacement … One of our readers even used Tasker to create his own to-do app . Also, if we haven’t provided a DIY option for you, ask us! Perhaps we can figure it out for you. Alternatively, you can discuss this in the user forums for the service to be closed – perhaps you can team up with other users to create something new and exciting. Even if there is no direct replacement for you, consider DIY – you can come up with something better and you will definitely end up with something more tailored to your needs (and your exported data). Best of all, you will have a service that will never shut down or leave you alone.
This post was illustrated by Dominique Rabrun. You can find his illustrations on his personal website or blog .
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