Google One buries its (underused) VPN service

Google One
Google One

Maybe that expensive VPN also came with your Google One package. Not for much longer. Google decided to discontinue the VPN by Google One service, and this is only four years after its release. Reason? Our beloved slots seem to have become unpopular.

This announcement follows Google One’s recent milestone of crossing 100 million subscribers. In fact, not a single one of those millions was interested in a VPN that knowingly charged for encryption while browsing every month. This is probably because Google vaguely informs about the date of shutdown next year

This is also not the first time that Google has rearranged the way it provides VPN services. For May-built Pixels (Pixel 7s and beyond), you still have the built-in VPN, while Google Fi (their mobile network provider) has another VPN option as well. Thus, like a cheating lover, Google will not move away from VPNs, but will only continue to do what it finds inherent in user demand.

If those relying on Google One VPN find flaws, the company urges them to try multiple alternatives. They can also focus their attention on what users are willing to use within the Google One service and that’s probably a big hint for AI-focused “Gemini” features that need further development.