Google Spaces (service)

Spaces
Developer(s) Google
Initial release May 16, 2016 (2016-05-16)
Last release Android: 1.14.0.147512795 (February 16, 2017 (2017-02-16)) [±][1]
Operating system
Type Group chat
License Freeware
Website spaces.google.com

Spaces or Google Spaces is a discontinued app for group discussions and messaging developed by Google.[2] The app was intended to compete with Slack as a content sharing platform where users can create a "space", invite their friends for discussion, and share videos, images, text, and other media. Google services such as the web browser Chrome, search engine Google Search, and video sharing platform YouTube were built into the app to allow users to source content from them.[3] Launched on May 16, 2016, it was available to download on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS operating systems.[2]

Google Spaces was discontinued on April 17, 2017.[4]

History

On May 16, 2016, product director Luke Wroblewski announced the launch of Spaces, "a tool for small group sharing".[5]

The app was available on Google Play on May 17, 2016, for Android devices running Android 4.1 or higher.[6]

On February 16, 2017, the day of Google Spaces app's final release for Android, Google announced that Spaces and its services will be discontinued on April 17.[7] This transition happened on March 3, 2017, when Spaces announced you can only print, view and delete spaces.[8] And then of April 17, 2017, Google Spaces was no longer in service.

Features

Spaces allowed group chatting and messaging between users. Users initiated conversations by creating a 'space' and then inviting friends to join. Once inside a 'space', there was a box at the bottom of the screen where one could tap buttons to post links and images and other content to the chat room. A conversational view let users see what the group was talking about.[9]

Google products such as Google Chrome, Google Search, and YouTube were in built into the app to allow users to find and share articles, videos and images without leaving the app. It required a Gmail account to sign up.[2]

The following were the types of posts that a user could share in his/her "space":[10]

  • Links - URLs of media which are automatically embedded
  • Videos - YouTube videos are integrated for mobile users; however, desktop users can directly search in the YouTube database as well as see their recently watched videos
  • Photos - With support for multiple-image uploads, users can directly post through their camera roll or through Google Photos
  • Text - Plain text, without formatting support

References

  1. ↑ "Spaces - Find & Do with Google". Google Play. Google. 16 Feb 2017. Retrieved 16 Feb 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 Wroblewski, Luke (16 May 2016). "Introducing Spaces, a tool for small group sharing". Google Blog. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  3. ↑ Lopez, Napier (16 May 2016). "Google just combined Chrome, YouTube, and Search into a single messaging app called Spaces". The Next Web. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  4. ↑ "Google Spaces will be shut down on April 17th, 2017". support.google.com. Google Support. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  5. ↑ Welch, Chris (17 May 2016), "Google's latest app, Spaces, aims to simplify group sharing", The Verge, retrieved 17 May 2016
  6. ↑ "Spaces - Small group sharing", Google Play, 17 May 2016, retrieved 17 May 2016
  7. ↑ Bohn, Dieter (2017-02-24). "Google is shutting down Spaces, its experimental group messaging app". The Verge. Retrieved 2017-02-25.
  8. ↑ "Spaces Help". support.google.com. Retrieved 2017-03-01.
  9. ↑ Perez, Sarah (16 May 2016), "Google tries its hand at social again with launch of group chat app, Spaces", TechCrunch, retrieved 17 May 2016
  10. ↑ Lopez, Napier (17 May 2016), "Hands-on with Spaces: Everything you need to know about Google's new chat app", The Next Web, retrieved 17 May 2016
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