Home
Social networking
Social networking News
Google+ to Shut Down April 2, Some Features Will Be Taken Offline Starting Next Week

Google+ to Shut Down April 2, Some Features Will Be Taken Offline Starting Next Week

By Harpreet Singh | Updated: 31 January 2019 11:03 IST

Google says it will delete all consumer Google+ data starting April 2, 2019

Highlights

Google will start deleting all consumer Google+ data from April 2, 2019
Some essential Google+ features will be taken down as early as next week
Google+ users will be able to download and save their data before April 2

Alphabet's Google had announced its plans to completely shut down Google+ back in December last year. Launched in 2011, Google+ was expected to be the company's answer to Facebook with a number of similar features. However, it didn't gain much traction over the years. While Google+ will cease to exist from April 2, 2019, the company now says it will start removing some of the features as early as February 4. Google has outlined the timeline when and which features will be taken offline first and how Google+ users can download their data.

On a new support page posted on Monday, Google says from February 4 it will stop letting users create new Google+ profiles, pages, communities or events. Google+ community owners and moderators can download their data starting early March 2019. This data will include author information, content body, and photos posted in a public community on Google+.

Starting April 2, 2019, Google+ accounts and pages will be taken offline. Google will delete all consumer data. In case you archived photos and videos from Google+, they'll be deleted as well. In case you have a lot of data resting on Google+ servers, make sure you download and save it well before April 2.

However, Google claims the process of deleting consumer Google+ data will take a couple of months. Content posted on Google+ may remain visible during that time. The company says users may still be able to view activity logs and some consumer Google+ content may also be visible via G Suite.

On the new support page, Google still claims the company had decided to kill Google+ due to low usage and "challenges involved in maintaining a successful product." However, a bug was discovered last year that exposed user data of 500,000 users. Google still maintains no developer had exploited the vulnerability and the company hasn't been able to find any misuse of the data.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Google Plus, Google

Harpreet Singh

Email Harpreet

Harpreet is the community manager at Gadgets 360. He loves all things tech, and can be found hunting for good deals when he is not shopping online. He has written about deals and e-commerce in India for many years, as well as covering social media and breaking technology news. More