Microsoft offered deep social integration for photos in Windows 8 with the Photos app, but now the company plans to backpedal a bit for Windows 8.1.

The company's built-in Photos app previously allowed users to grab photos from Facebook and Flickr. But despite some new improvements on the way, the Photos app in Windows 8.1 will no longer support Facebook and Flickr integration. In addition, the upcoming software update will remove support for images on network storage.

Read: Windows 8.1 release date and what you need to know to get ready

The decision was explained on Microsoft's community forums recently, saying Microsoft had introduced the functionality in Photos because it just wanted to provide a way for users to view photos from other services. Why would Microsoft do this? Simple: there weren't enough apps in the store at launch that could offer such capabilities.

"Now there are many apps in the store that offer ways to view photos on other services and soon there will even be a Facebook app from Facebook," Microsoft said. "We’re confident Facebook will offer great ways to view and engage socially with photos on Facebook. We welcome Flickr to do the same."

Although Windows 8.1 app has removed most social ties for photos, Microsoft said its People app would still offer the ability to socially engage with friends and photos. Still, losing the ability to merge photo services into one app will come as a disappointment to some.