After 15 years, thousands of users, hundreds of thousands of hives and billions of bees, Beetight is closing. If you want to keep your data you must download it by 31st December. This page will explain why this is happening and what this means.

Why Beetight is closing

When I created the first version of Beetight over the Christmas holidays in 2009 I never could have imagined that 15 years later it would still have tens of thousands of users still actively using it. Since that time I have switched jobs several times, got married and had two children. I also sadly developed an allergy to bees, so haven't kept any for ten years.

Throughout this time I have tried to keep Beetight maintained, because I know so many people are still finding it useful. This included developing entirely new versions of the mobile apps in 2017. Most recently I updated the web app to newer versions of the underlying software and moved it to new hosting this year. I have not been able to give it the attention it needs though, and the mobile apps in particular are now running on old APIs that mean they are not available for the latest devices. The underlying software means it has been hard to update it, so I have been tackling a rewrite, which has taken far longer than I'd hoped, as it has to be all done in my free time. I've now had to accept that it is too much work for me to maintain two mobile apps and a web app. The final impetus is that new policies for Android and iOS mean that if the apps are to remain available they will need to be updated, which is not possible right now.

Timeline

In order to minimise disruption, Beetight will wind down in stages across the next year.

• As of 20th June 2024, Beetight will be closed for new signups. Pro subscriptions will no longer renew, but will maintain Pro accesss until the service closes. No current free account may be upgraded to Pro. The apps are no longer available for new installs, but existing users can restore the app on their devices. Beetight will continue to function as normal for the rest of the northern hemisphere season.
• On 1st October 2024 Beetight will become read-only. Existing app installs will continue to work, but cannot be used to add new inspections.
• On 31st December 2024 Beetight will be closed. All user data will be deleted. Apps will cease to function.

I will do my best to follow this timeline, but reserve the right to restrict services earlier if there are reasons outside my control, such as further policy updates from third parties.

Pro accounts

As of today, no pro account will be charged for renewal. All current pro accounts will maintain service until shutdown.

Pro users who pay via PayPal and whose accounts renewed in 2024 may contact me for a refund of the outstanding period on their subscription. Users who paid via the Apple App Store or Google Play should contact Apple or Google customer services for a refund, as this isn't something I have control over.

Your data

As of today, all users have access to the CSV inspection export tool. Visit the inspections page and click "Download as spreadsheet". In the next few weeks I will add support for bulk export of all other data. This will remain available once the site switches to read-only.

Once the site closes on 31st December I will retain the data for three months for compliance reasons and in case anybody missed the chance to export it. On 31st March 2025 this data will also be permanently deleted.

I'd like to thank everyone who has used Beetight in the past 15 years, particularly those who help build the site, including all the volunteer translators and everyone who requested hive types, treatments and more. Ihope Beetight has been useful to you, and I apologise for any inconvenience this will cause.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Matt Kane, June 2024