In October 2020, Google added a new feature as part of its Google One cloud storage service. Now, adding another corpse to Google’s cemetery, one of the largest in the industry.
It was simply called VPN by Google One and it was included to offer people an easy way to encrypt their Internet data. The service was available to subscribers who paid for plans that included 2 TB of cloud storage and more.
However, that service will soon no longer be available for those uses. 9to5Google reports that Google One subscribers have received an email this week informing them that VPN by Google One will stop working at some point “by the end of this year”.
“We closed it because we didn’t use it either”
The email sent to Google One users did not provide a specific reason for the closure of the VPN feature. However, according to a statement from a company spokesperson to 9to5Google, it is being closed because the team “found that people simply weren’t using it”.
The statement added that removing the feature will allow the team to “support more demanded features with Google One”. Which translates to: we are going to focus on something that has real use.
While the VPN feature of Google One will soon no longer be available, owners of Google Pixel 7 smartphones and above will still be able to use their built-in Google VPN service for free. Google will also continue to offer a VPN feature for subscribers of its Google Fi wireless service.
There have been recent reports that Google’s VPN services were disrupting DNS settings on Windows 10 and 11 with their own configuration, and Google has not stated whether this was one of the reasons behind the closure of Google One VPN.
