Facebook Slingshot
Facebook's Snapchat rival made recipients send a photo before they could see yours; the forced reciprocity lasted eighteen months.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Officially Gone
- Peak stage
- general availability
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
A formally released ephemeral photo and video messaging application from Facebook Creative Labs.
Users sent temporary images that initially remained blurred until the recipient replied with another image.
Existence timeline
An early store listing briefly exposes the product.
Facebook releases Slingshot in the United States.
The photo exchange reaches global stores.
A redesign allows browsing before responding.
The experimental app receives limited adoption.
Facebook ends the app and its incubator programme.
Why it ended
Facebook removed Slingshot from stores in December 2015 when it closed the Creative Labs initiative.
Last confirmed trace
App packages, screenshots, launch reporting and archived product pages preserve its reply-to-unlock mechanic.
What it left behind
Slingshot is an unusually visible example of Facebook experimenting with social obligations rather than merely cloning a message format.
How we classified it
The archive unit reached normal public release or operation and is no longer obtainable in its original public form.
Verified normal public availability maps to 100 under Arrival Score V1.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.