Google to ax its Shopping app in favor of web search

By Trevor Mogg Published April 12, 2021

In its latest effort to streamline its myriad of offerings, Google has decided to send its Shopping app to the scrapyard.

Google is no stranger to axing apps and services when it feels that something no longer serves its purpose, and Shopping for Android and iOS is the latest casualty, the company has confirmed.

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Of course, it doesn’t mean that Google is exiting e-commerce. No, it definitely isn’t doing that. It’s simply shifting its focus to the web, with everything operating through the Shopping tab on its search results page.

Following the recent discovery of tell-tale strings of code in Google’s Shopping app that pointed to imminent closure, the web company confirmed at the weekend that it is indeed planning to cull the Shopping app for Android and iOS, telling 9to5 Google:

“Within the next few weeks, we’ll no longer be supporting the Shopping app. All of the functionality the app offered users is available on the Shopping tab. We’ll continue building features within the Shopping tab and other Google services, including the Google app, that make it easy for people to discover and shop for the products they love.”

Following the latest app update, users are seeing a “something went wrong” message on the Google Shopping app that prevents them from using it in the usual way. The message adds: “The app is unavailable right now, but you can continue shopping on shopping.google.com.” The dedicated homepage features products across a range of categories, including electronics, home decor, kitchen and dining, and toys. To use the web version to make purchases, make sure you’re logged into your Google account.

The Google Shopping app is just the latest Google product to be shown the door by the California-based company. In fact, it’s become so famous for ditching stuff that someone went and created a Killed by Google website. It currently lists more than 225 culled products going back 15 years. A lot of them you won’t recognize, but some might ring a bell, including Reader, Hangouts, Project Ara, Allo, and Loon.

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Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

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