Bump Narrows Down Product to Contacts and Photos

Bump was first known as that nifty way to digitally share contacts by physically bumping smartphones together. Over the last three years, it also became an app for sharing photos, other apps, calendars and songs.

No longer. Bump is making some dramatic cuts to reduce confusion in its product and focus on the features that have the most engagement and retention.

Bump isn’t a failure, but it wants to be much more than a novelty app. It has been downloaded by more than 77 million people, and used by 12 million of them in the last 30 days, half in the U.S. and half in the rest of the world.

Bump 3.0, which is due today for both Android and iPhone, is all about two things: Sharing contact information with new people in social settings, and sharing photos with close friends and family.

I’m not sure those two functions are as tightly linked as Bump CEO Dave Lieb might argue, but he describes his company’s new focus as, “We’re trying to make connections in the real world simple.”