Amino launched as an app in January 2012, grew to tens of millions of users, was acquired by MediaLab in 2021, then lost its engineering and moderation capacity. Automated moderation began banning established community leaders; leaders left, communities emptied, ad revenue followed, and the apps were delisted in 2024.
| Launched | January 2012, by Narvii |
|---|---|
| Peak | Roughly 2018-2020 |
| Acquired | 2021, by MediaLab AI, Inc. |
| Decline | 2022-2023, moderation collapse, leader exodus |
| Apps delisted | 2024 |
| Status now | Not operational |
A decade of community-first social, from startup darling to silent shutdown.
2014, Launch
Amino launched as a single-community app for anime fans, founded by Ben Anderson and Yin Wang. Each downloaded app was its own micro-community. The product loop was simple: join a topic, follow creators, build a profile, contribute posts and chats. It exploded among teenagers looking for niche fandoms that didn't fit Reddit or Tumblr.
2016-2018, The unified app
Amino merged its dozens of single-topic apps into a single mega-app where users could join unlimited communities. Downloads crossed 100 million. The leader system, level/reputation badges, public chats, polls, and quizzes made it feel more like a hybrid of Discord and a personal homepage than a chat app.
2019-2020, Peak
Over 300 million lifetime downloads. The app dominated K-pop, Marvel, anime, and roleplay verticals. Creators with five-figure follower counts ran daily activity in their communities; the leader-curator-host hierarchy gave structure to large groups.
2021, MediaLab acquisition
MediaLab acquired Amino. Layoffs followed within months. Roadmap stalled.
2022-2023, Decay
Bug reports went unanswered. Push notifications were unreliable. Moderation tooling broke and was rebuilt as an aggressive auto-ban system. Creators started moving to Discord servers and dedicated alternative apps.
2024, Removal from stores
Amino was pulled from the iOS App Store, then later Google Play. Existing installs continued working but with broken features.
2025, Effective shutdown
The web app went offline for good. Most active leaders had migrated. Aminoka and similar platforms picked up the displaced communities.
Keep reading
More from shutdown status.