Why is Amino Dead? The Full Story Behind the App's Decline
Amino once had over 300 million downloads and millions of daily active users. It was the home of fan communities, roleplay groups, and creative expression. Now it's gone. What went wrong?
Once the largest community platform for fans, Amino's downfall is a cautionary tale.
300M+
Downloads
17M
Peak MAU
2.5M
Communities
10
Years Active
If you're asking "why is Amino dead?" you're not alone. Millions of former users are searching for answers after the beloved community app suddenly disappeared from app stores and announced its shutdown.
The death of Amino wasn't sudden, it was a slow decline that longtime users watched unfold over years. From corporate acquisition to technical neglect, here's the complete story of how one of the internet's most vibrant community platforms met its end.
"Amino was more than an app to us. It was where we found our people, expressed ourselves, and built real friendships. Watching it slowly die while no one at the company seemed to care was heartbreaking.", Former Amino community leader, December 2024
The Rise and Fall of Amino: A Timeline
Amino is Founded
Yin Wang and Ben Anderson launch Amino as a mobile platform for communities. The app quickly gains traction among anime fans and quickly expands to other fandoms.
Explosive Growth
Amino reaches 10 million monthly active users. The platform becomes the go-to app for fan communities, roleplay, and creative expression.
Peak Popularity
Amino hits its peak with over 17 million monthly active users and 2.5 million communities. Raises $45 million in funding.
First Signs of Trouble
User complaints about bugs increase. Development seems to slow down. Some features become unreliable. The app starts showing more aggressive ads.
MediaLab Acquisition
MediaLab acquires Amino. Users notice an immediate increase in ads and a decrease in development activity. Bug fixes become rare.
Rapid Decline
App becomes increasingly buggy. Chats don't work, notifications fail, crashes become frequent. Users start leaving in droves. Support becomes unresponsive.
The End
Amino is removed from app stores. The shutdown is announced. Millions of users lose access to their communities and connections.
The 5 Reasons Amino Died
1. The MediaLab Acquisition
When MediaLab acquired Amino in 2021, priorities shifted from users to profits. Development slowed, ads increased, and the app's soul began to fade. MediaLab's track record of acquiring and milking apps should have been a warning sign.
2. Rampant Technical Issues
The app became plagued with bugs. Chats wouldn't load, notifications stopped working, messages disappeared. Instead of fixing these issues, the team seemed to abandon ship. Users grew frustrated and left.
3. Aggressive Monetization
In the final years, Amino became overwhelmed with ads, video ads between every action, banner ads everywhere, premium pushes constantly. The user experience suffered as revenue extraction became the focus.
4. Safety Concerns
As the app grew, so did safety concerns. Inadequate moderation, predator issues, and content problems led to negative press. Parents pulled kids off the platform, and the reputation suffered.
5. Loss of Community Trust
Ultimately, Amino died because its users lost faith. When support tickets went unanswered for months, when bugs were never fixed, when the app felt abandoned, users stopped inviting friends, stopped creating communities, and stopped coming back. A community platform without community engagement is just an empty shell.
The MediaLab Factor: How an Acquisition Killed a Community
What is MediaLab?
MediaLab is a company known for acquiring once-popular social apps and extracting value from them. Their portfolio includes Kik, Whisper, and several other apps that have seen similar fates to Amino.
The MediaLab acquisition in 2021 was the beginning of the end. Almost immediately, users noticed changes:
- Development updates became rare, then stopped entirely
- Ad frequency increased dramatically
- Customer support response times grew from days to weeks to never
- Bug fixes were deprioritized in favor of revenue features
- The community team was gutted
MediaLab's strategy seemed clear: extract as much revenue as possible while investing as little as possible in the product. For users who loved Amino, watching this happen was like watching a slow-motion car crash.
The Human Cost: What Users Lost
Communities
Years of built communities, posts, and shared memories, gone.
Creative Work
Fan art, stories, wikis, and roleplay scenarios lost forever.
Connections
Friendships made through Amino now scattered across the internet.
For many users, Amino wasn't just an app, it was a lifeline. For LGBTQ+ youth finding community, for neurodivergent individuals connecting with others who understood them, for creative people sharing their work, Amino was irreplaceable. The loss is real, and the grief is valid.
So What Now? Life After Amino
The good news is that the community spirit that made Amino special doesn't have to die. Users are migrating to alternatives, rebuilding their communities, and reconnecting with friends. The platform may be gone, but the people and the passion remain.
Aminoka: Built for Refugees of Amino
We built Aminoka because we were Amino users too. We saw what MediaLab did, watched the app we loved crumble, and decided to create something new, something that puts community first, not profits.
- All the features you loved from Amino
- No aggressive ads or premium paywalls
- Active development and real support
- Built by former Amino users who get it
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Amino actually dead or just having issues?
Amino is truly dead. It's been removed from app stores and MediaLab has confirmed the shutdown. This is not a temporary issue, the app is gone for good.
Can I get my Amino data back?
Unfortunately, there's no official way to export your Amino data. The shutdown happened without giving users time to backup their content. Some users had luck screenshotting important content before access was cut off.
Why didn't MediaLab try to save Amino?
MediaLab's business model focuses on extracting value from acquired apps rather than investing in their growth. When the costs outweighed the revenue, they chose to shut down rather than rebuild.
Could Amino come back?
It's highly unlikely. MediaLab has shown no interest in reviving the platform, and even if they did, the user base has scattered. The Amino era is over.
Where did all the Amino users go?
Users have scattered across various platforms. Some went to Discord, others to Tumblr or Reddit. Many are now joining Aminoka, which was specifically built as an Amino replacement.
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