Category: Google

Google is responsible for some of the most important, impactful apps and services ever created. Where would we be without Google Search? What on earth would I use if not Gmail? How could I possibly begin to imagine a world without Android? For all these massive hits that survived the test of time, Google has also laid to rest several apps I’ve really enjoyed using in the past. There are the apps Google killed that I miss the most.

A product well ahead of its time, Google Now launched in 2012 to deliver contextually relevant information to users when needed. This sounds a bit like Google’s At a Glance widget and Assistant, but Now’s implementation was far superior to both.

Located within the Google app, Now displayed its information in scrollable cards, making it easy to visualize and interact with them. It notified me of upcoming events, when I should leave to arrive at my planned destination (including a handy countdown), prepared my boarding pass details when my flight time neared, and alerted me of contacts’ birthdays and weather information. This was just a taste of what I found helpful, though. Now supported a dizzying number of information cards and eventually expanded support to third-party services.

In 2015, Google Now was shuttered and was eventually replaced by the Discover feed, Google Assistant, and other features spread across different offerings. As much as I’ve relied on Assistant over the years, I don’t consider it a Now replacement. Assistant (or Gemini now, to an extent) demands I interact with it before it delivers information. Google Now required little to no attention on my part.

Inbox by Google was a smarter, feature-full alternative email client that starkly contrasted with Gmail’s seemingly changeless design. Although its primary goal aligned with a bog-standard email client, it’s how it performed its job that made it revolutionary.

Inbox seamlessly grouped similar emails into “bundles,” making it super simple to trash multiple emails in one fell swoop or access particular information more easily. Think travel documents, like boarding passes, hotel booking confirmations, and transport details. This, paired with its email pinning and reminder features, made it a potent personal management tool far beyond email.

I preferred Inbox over Gmail during its relatively brief run, enjoying many of its features at a time when I traveled plenty for work. It made achieving inbox zero possible, a goal I will never see again with Gmail.

While Google officially killed off Inbox in 2019, some five years after its debut, many of its features were integrated into Google’s premier email app. That said, I still miss the simplicity and focus of the company’s renegade mail tool.

As I wrote in a recent piece, Google desperately needs a reliable travel app. In 2016, it had just that.

Trips was another Google app I heavily relied on. It paired perfectly with Inbox or Gmail, automatically syncing important travel information from emails, detailing points of interest and travel guides from Google Maps, and offering easy access to itineraries. It also included a trip-planning feature for those who know they want to visit famous cities but have no idea where to start.

More importantly, Trips offered offline support for moments I wasn’t within sight of a cell tower and a brilliant point-by-point map visualization tool called “Your day plan.” How I wish the latter feature was integrated into modern Google Maps!

Not willing to let a good time stand, Google shuttered Trips in 2019 and still hasn’t replaced it with a competent travel platform. Of all the Google products that no longer exist, Trips leaves the largest void on my device.

One of the first cars I owned was a beautifully simple Toyota built like a tiny fort that offered few creature comforts. But when I stuck a smartphone cradle on the dashboard and popped in my device, I could run Android Auto for phone screens on it for navigation like a member of the digital aristocracy. It was brilliant.

The app, which rolled out in 2016 for phones running Android Lollipop or newer, was a nifty innovation, especially before the dawn of modern Android Auto infotainment units, which are a dime a dozen on modern vehicles.

However, even though it still makes plenty of sense in the modern context, Google didn’t see fit to continue developing Android Auto for phone screens. The app would shutter in 2022, three years after Google announced its demise. Now, if you want Android Auto in your car, you’ll need a vehicle with a dedicated screen and relevant support.

Granted, we still have driving mode on Google Maps for those who don’t have Google’s automotive support in their cars, so not all is lost.

Trusted Contacts rolled out in 2016 to keep loved ones up to date about the live location of friends and family members. The app allowed users to request the location of others, making it useful for parents to keep tabs on their kids.

I know many modern location-sharing apps exist on Android, but Trusted Contacts was simple enough for anyone to use. My family, in particular, relied on this app back when I scuttled myself to and from work on foot and by rail.

My folks could see where I was on my journey home, while I could also keep tabs on them when they travel. If their request for my location wasn’t accepted within a few minutes, it would automatically share my details with them. This meant that if I couldn’t get my device out on a train or at the side of the road, they’d know where I was regardless.

Despite its simple functionality, Trusted Contacts lasted a surprisingly long before being absorbed into Google Maps. It drew its last breath in 2020, but we can still enjoy location-tracking features in Google’s mapping app. It’s not quite the same, though.

Shut down in 2013, Google Reader was an aggregation tool that closely resembled Gmail in its appearance. But instead of providing a river of emails, it siphoned content from RSS feeds you plug into it.

Although it may not be aesthetically exciting or groundbreaking through our modern lens, it offers plenty of essentials for catching up on the news. I loved its broad search functionality, sensible categorization and organization tools, and fuss-free ability to share interesting articles with others.

Google Reader also functioned offline through the Google Gears extension. At a time when my internet connection was spotty at worst and 2Mbps at its best, this was an invaluable trick for me. Of course, my Reader journey started when Windows XP was still my desktop OS, and it took another five years for Reader to migrate to Android.

Of course, modern RSS and feed readers for Android exist in the hundreds, with many great options available. Inoreader (pictured above), in addition to Feedly, are two of my current favorites, although both lack the early charm of Reader.

Is there a dead Google product that you still miss today? We’d love to hear how it left an impression on you. Drop a comment below.