Google is killing a weird group messaging app less than one year after it launched
Remember Google Spaces?
The group messaging app was launched by Google only 10 months ago, promising a new way for groups of friends to have chats around particular topics.
The app stitched together a slew of Google services such as YouTube, Search, and Chrome, allowing users to easily share video and other information about a topic - say, a new movie - without having to jump between apps, cutting and pasting relevant links and so forth.
But Spaces will be no more. Google announced on Friday that Spaces will be shut down on April 17. And on March 3, Spaces will become "read only," meaning you won't be able to use the app for anything other than glancing at your old conversations with friends.
"Our goal with Spaces was to create a better small-group sharing experience, and we'll use what we've learned to improve other Google products and services. Thanks again for your support," Google said on the Spaces support page.
Spaces got off to a bumpy start when it was launched in May 2016, with many users expressing confusion as to how the app fit in with Google's already crowded portfolio of messaging apps, such as Google Hangouts and YouTube messaging. Since then, Google has introduced yet another messaging app called Allo.
For Spaces though, it's now time to say Goodbye.