Google apps and services shut down in 2019: Allo, Plus, Daydream, Trips, Gaming and more

Maybe something new has come and occupied the place of old technology. or users have lost interest. Whatever the case, Google has stopped at least 20 products and services this year. Some of them are aged two or three, and some have passed decades. Here are the 5 discussed products and services that Google has shut down in the 21st.

Google URL Shortener (2009-2019): Google has stopped sharing the URL shortening service shortening the long weblink launched in 28.

Google Plus (2011-2019): Google launched this social media campaign in the 21st. The event was shut down earlier this year for failing to attract users.

Google+ was the Android-makers' attempt to take on Facebook and other social networking sites. The service, however, failed miserably. It had almost no users, low customers' satisfaction, and a security bug. Owing to that, Google had no other option but to kill the eight-year-old Google+ earlier this year.

Google Allo (2016-2019): Allo Social Networking App is one of Google's short-lived products. Google wanted to provide an instant messaging service like WhatsApp.

Google Allo is another app that bites the dust. The instant messaging mobile app for Android, iOS, and Web was killed nine months ago. "[Allo] as a whole has not achieved the level of traction we'd hoped for," Anil Sabharwal the head of the communications group at Google said before the discontinuation.

Chromecast Audio (2015-2019): Google stopped marketing the Chromecast audio device earlier this year. This allows users to stream audio from any device to the speakers with audio input.

YouTube Messages and Gaming (2015-2019): YouTube Gaming aims to give users a taste of live and recorded gaming promotion. It was shut down earlier this year for failing to get enough response from users.

Google also made some deduction to its video streaming platform YouTube. The company has removed messages and gaming feature from both the desktop and app version of YouTube. As the name suggests, the YouTube Messages was a direct messaging feature that allowed users to share and discuss videos one-on-one and in groups chats, while YouTube Gaming was a video gaming-oriented service and app for videos and live streaming.

Inbox by Gmail (2015-2019): The 'Inbox by Gmail' app launched on 28 worked just like Gmail. It was originally launched to test the potential of new facilities. However, most of them are eventually added to the Gmail app and the need for a separate app is gone.

Inbox by Gmail is another popular service the Mountain View company killed this year, apart from Google+. The Inbox app, announced back in 2015, was the place where one could find Google's new AI-powered experiments like Smart Compose, Nudges, high-priority notifications, etc being carried out. The service aimed to improve email through several key features. However, Google has now integrated most of these smart features with the main Gmail app, making the Inbox app futile.

Google Daydream (2016-2019): About three years after the launch of Google Daydream, it closed earlier this year. This virtual reality platform works on certain Android devices. However, it failed to create a stir. 

The Google Daydream project took its last breath a couple of months ago. The Daydream was a virtual reality platform, with a set of hardware devices that worked with certain Android phones. The company has announced that it'll no longer sell the Daydream View mobile headset, though the platform will continue to support the app, which only works on older phones, for existing users. The Google Daydream project was announced with much-enthusiasm back in 2016.

Google Clips (2017-2019): This is basically an action camera-style device. Launched in the 21st.

Probably you've heard of it or not, the Google Clips was a miniature clip-on camera that could automatically capture interesting or relevant video clips determined by machine learning algorithms. It was at announced at Google's hardware event in 2017. However, the company decided to quietly retire the Google Clips earlier this year. According to the report by The Verge, "Clips will continue to get support until December 2021. In addition, the Clips mobile app, which is required to transfer videos off of a Clips camera, will stop working in December 2021."

Google Trips (2016-2019): Google Trips is a travel app that aims to help users better monitor their travel plans.

Google has also shut its travel-based service Google trips that allows users to plan for upcoming travel by facilitating flight, hotel, car, and restaurant reservations. The product was with us since 2016.

Dragonfly (search engine) (2018-2019): Google's Dragonfly project, which closed within a year of its launch, is a Google search engine project designed primarily for Chinese users. The face of the light is closed before being seen.

Other Google services that have been discontinued this year are Ario, YouTube Messages, Blog Compass, Google Cloud Messaging, Google Spotlight Stories, Google Jump, G Suite Training, Follow Your World, Datali, Google Bulletin, Google Fusion Tables, Google Fusion Tables and Google Fusion Tables. Google Correlate. Source: Gazetteer

Why Google discontinues its apps and services ?

There are a handful of reasons why Google axes its products. One of the reasons could be due to multiple products that look similar such as Hangouts, Allo and Messages. Some of these apps may fail to meet expectations. There are also times when Google integrates some of its services to the main app, thereby rendering the separate app or service futile. Inbox by Gmail, for example. On a few rare occasions, the digital oblivion was just the only logical way forward, as the company continues to reinvent and reprioritise its online strategy.

In line with that, Google is said to add more apps and services, including Hangouts, Google Cloud Print, and Hire by Google, to its graveyard next year. So backup your data (if there’s any) before the products are discontinued.