2020 saw a few changes brought by Google, including replacing and taking down some of its services. The company is popular for taking down its apps and features that don’t do well or meet its objective.

Have you ever wondered why the company does this? If not, you’ll find answers to all your questions here. Below mentioned are the services that have been replaced and killed by Google in the year 2020. So, read along to learn more!

Services and Apps Google Replaced in 2020

The four services or apps that were replaced by Google in 2020 are:

Google Play Music by YouTube Music

One of the leading streaming apps introduced by Google was Google Play Music. The app gained popularity; however, it could never perform as well as other streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music. Therefore, the company started testing a music-based YouTube app in 2015. Further, the service got launched in 2018 under the name YouTube Music as its main streaming app.

All the users gradually switched to YouTube Music and have discovered that it has many more features than the original app. For instance, the Discover Mixes feature comes in handy while exploring new music and much more.

Google Password Extension by Built-In Chrome

Many people have adopted password managers to keep their online and mobile passwords safe. Therefore, one such password checker extension was added by Google to help people who are still using insecure passwords. It is also because once you share a password with an unknown service or app, all the other accounts are affected. Therefore, Google’s service checks your credentials and the breached credentials to let you know about it.

Google took down the service after a while, which got replaced by an in-built service in Chrome. The service instantly checks the passwords that have been compromised and lets you know about the same. You’re informed to change your account password immediately, which can be done using Google password settings.

Google Hangouts by Chat and Meet

Google also replaced its service named Hangouts with Meet and Duo, which received many feature updates. Additionally, the new service was introduced for business and personal use separately. The company also supports the new RCS protocol and has introduced features like end-to-end encryption, reactions, and more.

Trusted Contacts by Google Maps and Pixel Personal Safety

Have you ever tried the Trusted Contacts app to know where your friends or family were? The app allows you to set your contacts as ‘trusted contacts,’ who could request your location when needed. Therefore, if you do not forward your location at a given time, Google forwards it automatically.

The Trusted Contacts app was taken down two months before. It directed people to the Google Maps app. Therefore, the Google Maps app lets you share your real-time location across Android and Apple. Additionally, the company introduced a Pixel Personal Safety app, which has an emergency contact feature. The feature performs pretty much the same, including sharing of location.

Services and Apps Google Took Down in 2020

The five services or apps that were taken down by Google in 2020 are:

Google Cloud Print

No matter how much you use PDFs and Google Sheets to share work, print work also comes in handy. Google Cloud Print is an amazing feature introduced by the company, enabling you to print files using Chrome and a Cloud Print connected printer. Unfortunately, Google will take down the service at the end of this year.

Google Shoelace

One of the biggest reasons behind Google taking down this service is pandemic. The app focuses on organizing meetups and discovering community events with strangers in their area. For instance, if you’re a huge music fan and want to find someone to accompany you to a musical concert, the app did the job.

Google One Today

Google One Today was a service that supported non-profits by delivering your donations to them. The app ran for a long time from 2013 to early 2020. Sadly, Google took down the same and offered people to donate for the final time.

The reason behind shutting down the service by Google was a decline in its use over the years. Therefore, they had to do the same sooner or later.

Google Fiber TV

The subscribers of the Google Fiber TV service were offered TV packages. However, the company decided to switch back to providing the internet. It is because the company felt that the customers no longer have any interest in traditional media methods. Therefore, the company offered its subscribers to move to services, like Sling TV, YouTube TV, etc.

Google Plus

Google+ was a social network introduced by Google to compete with other social media platforms, like YouTube. However, it couldn’t win the consumer engagement, so the company had to shut it down.

Those mentioned above are all the apps and services that Google replaced or shut down for good. If you were an existing user of apps that got replaced, the new applications have a lot to offer. Why not try using them?

Source :- https://directorycrew.com/blog/services-replaced-and-removed-by-google-in-2020/