Google is discontinuing its VPN by Google One service later this year, leaving all paid subscribers to look for a new VPN deal to protect their devices.
Google announced the closure of the VPN service in a customer email to certain Google One subscribers. The announcement, tucked away at the end of the email, did not provide a specific retirement date but indicated that the VPN could be removed in the coming months, definitely by the end of 2024.
A Google spokesperson explained the company is discontinuing the product because the company no longer considers it worthwhile.
“We’re refocusing our efforts to support more in-demand features with Google One. To keep our subscription service fresh, we’re discontinuing the VPN feature, as we found people simply weren’t using it,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The company first introduced the product in October 2020. The VPN initially launched as an exclusive feature for select paid Google One plans and was only available on Android devices. Google gradually expanded the service to include all paid tiers and introduced support for iOS, Windows, and macOS platforms.
Google One VPN is a very simplistic VPN that offers good security and privacy and decent speeds, but not much else. (You can read our full review here). It lacks a lot of other features that top VPNs offer, including solid streaming support, and its network only has servers in 20+ locations, compared to best-ranked VPNs, like ExpressVPN. that have servers in more than 100 countries. Plus, its availability isn’t great — only people in certain countries can purchase and use it.
Google One users may have had too many options, as the VPN service was just one of three offered by Google. Customers still have access to VPN services through Google Fi and on Pixel devices starting from the Pixel 7 and newer.