Launched in June 2011, Google+ is all set to end its run on 2nd April 2019. Google had initially announced its plan to shut down Google+ last December, and now it has started sending emails to concerned users to inform them of its decision to shut the site down permanently, with the ability to create new accounts being disabled from February 4th.
The email cites “low usage and challenges involved in maintaining a successful product that meets consumers’ expectations” as reasons behind the decision to shut down the site. The site shutting down will include the deletion of photos and videos from Google+ in the user’s Album Archive and associated Google+ pages. However, photos and videos with their backups in Google Photos shall remain unscathed. Since the process of complete obliteration of Google+ accounts, Google+ Pages, and Album Archive shall take a while, Google informs users that they may still be able to “see parts of their Google+ account via activity log, and some consumer Google+ content may remain visible to G Suite users until consumer Google+ is deleted.”
From all of us on the Google+ team, thank you for making Google+ such a special place. We are grateful for the talented group of artists, community builders, and thought leaders who made Google+ their home. It would not have been the same without your passion and dedication. – Google
Google+ Community owners and moderators will be able to download all or specific data and save them for their Google+ Community, with additional data like author, body, and photos for every community post made in a public community being made available for download starting this March. Google+ Sign-in buttons shall become inoperable and be replaced by Google Sign-in buttons in some cases, allowing users to use their Google accounts to Sign-in to certain places.
Comments made on one’s own or other posts from a Google+ account shall start getting deleted from April 2nd, and the feature itself shall be removed on 4th February from Blogger and by 7th March from all other sites. Google+ shall, however, remain active for G-Suite accounts, and customers may get some additional features soon. A link provided for developers in the mail by Google also enlists the Google+ APIs that shall become inoperative progressively, starting on 28th January and ending conclusively on 7th March.
