If you have a Google Plus account, you most likely received an email from Google in December 2018 or on 1st February 2019. If you still did not, you most certainly would have gotten one on 18th March 2019. All these emails were reminders by Google that they were shutting down Google+ “and will begin deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts.”

Archives photos and videos in your Google+ Album and Google+ pages will be deleted. They went on to advise users to download all their Google content before 31st March 2019. The service will completely go inactive on 2nd April 2019. However, your photos and videos backed up in Google Photos will not be deleted. Google Photos, Google Drive, YouTube and Gmail will remain active.

Inbox by Google

Meanwhile, that’s not all that is getting deleted. Inbox by Google is also going away. Inbox by Google is a Gmail suite of services, an interface for the email service, which might go unnoticed. Gmail will thankfully still be active, and you can always access your information using the Gmail app. This is most likely because a lot of the features on the Inbox app are now in Gmail proper.

As from 4th February 2019, users were no longer able to create new Google+ profiles, pages, communities or events. In the email, Google said:

“If you sign in to sites and apps using the Google+ sign-in button, these buttons will stop working in the coming weeks. But in some cases may be replaced by a Google sign-in button. You’ll still be able to sign in with your Google account wherever you see Google sign-in buttons.”

They also went on to thank the users for making it a better place. The mail also read:

“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.”

Speculations are Google+ did not attract many people anymore. This may be because a lot of us did not see the need to use much of it. It was social networking by Google where people interact, share videos and photos. People could also comment on photos, like them and edit their images to improve their quality.

Gmail may soon have some features from Inbox by Gmail. The app had features that included Purchases, Social, Finance and custom bundles.