Frequently asked questions about the Google+ shutdown

Given the challenges in creating and maintaining a successful Google+ that meets our consumer users’ expectations, we decided to sunset the consumer version of Google+. We’re committed to focusing on our enterprise efforts, and will be launching new features purpose-built for businesses. Read the announcement.

No other Google products (such as Gmail, Google Photos, Google Drive, YouTube) were or will be shut down as part of the consumer Google+ shutdown, and the Google Account you use to sign in to these services will remain. Your brand account will continue to exist without Google+, so you can continue to use it with other Google products, such as YouTube channels.

Google+ content from consumer Google+ accounts and Google+ pages has been deleted.

Certain Google+ content may not have been deleted from consumer Google+ and/or Album Archive if it was needed in order to meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process, legal obligation (including legal preservation obligations), or governmental request.

Google+ vanity URL names are no longer supported and were deleted as part of the shutdown. Any links that use Google+ vanity URLs, including Album Archive, will no longer work.

You can delete or disable the Google+ app by following the steps here.

No, photos and videos from consumer Google+ accounts and Google+ pages in Album Archive were deleted.

Photos and videos backed up in Google Photos were not deleted as part of the consumer Google+ shutdown. Note that some photos and videos uploaded from Google+ may remain available in Google Photos. Namely,

• Photos and videos uploaded to Google+ before Google Photos launched in 2015
• Photos and videos backed up at any time using older versions of Google+ mobile apps (from 2015 or earlier)
• Photos and videos that were associated with Google+ Events

These photos and videos remain in Google Photos after the Google+ shutdown.

Google Workspace is an integrated suite of collaboration and productivity apps for businesses that includes Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar, Hangouts Meet, and more. To learn more about Google Workspace, see Google Workspace editions.

Google Workspace users include businesses who pay for its services and educational institutions and other organizations that use Google Workspace at no cost.

If you use Google+ for work or school, you probably have a Google Workspace account. You can check to see if you have a Google Workspace account by asking your administrator. If you do not know who your administrator is, read Who is my administrator?

Google Workspace customers may see some upcoming changes to Google+ features related to the consumer shutdown. If you’re a Google Workspace customer, you can find more details here or you can talk to your administrator to learn more.

Organizations using Google Workspace for Education Plus will have the same access as other Google Workspace customers. If you participate in Google+ communities, please note that some Google+ communities may be impacted as part of the shutdown. For more information about the effect of the shutdown on communities, read Important changes to Google+ for Google Workspace due to the consumer shutdown.

Google+ pages are not part of Google Workspace and have been removed with the rest of the consumer Google+ platform. The associated brand accounts will continue to exist without Google+, so you can continue to use them with other Google products, such as YouTube channels.

Google+ APIs were shut down on March 7, 2019, including Google+ Sign-In. Developers should migrate to the more comprehensive Google Sign-In authentication system. In advance of the shutdown, we made some changes to mitigate the impact of the Google+ API shutdown. For more information, see our Google+ API shutdown page.

Google+ integrations for web and mobile apps stopped functioning on March 7, 2019. The Google+ Sign-In feature was also shut down on March 7, 2019. Developers should migrate to the more comprehensive Google Sign-In authentication system. In advance of the shutdown, we made some changes to mitigate the impact of the Google+ API shutdown. For more information, see our Google+ API shutdown page.

Blogger and other sites may have used Google+ for their commenting system. Comments on blogs may also exist as posts or comments on Google+. This feature has been removed from Blogger and other sites. All your Google+ comments on all sites will be deleted starting April 2, 2019. Learn more about how the Google+ shutdown impacted Blogger.

While we strongly encourage developers to migrate to the more comprehensive Google Sign-In authentication system, legacy applications can continue to use Google+ Sign-In until they can migrate. For more information, see our Google+ API shutdown page.

No, photos uploaded by Local Guides to Google Maps will not be impacted.

Most YouTube users won’t be impacted. However, some YouTube functionality that was built with Google+ may be impacted including channel art and channel icon editing on mobile, private video sharing to Google+ Circles, links to Google+ profiles on YouTube channel pages, Google+ custom URLs for channel pages, and commenting with outdated versions of the YouTube mobile app.

All events created in Google+ have been removed from Google Calendar and birthdays of people in your Google+ Circles will no longer be displayed (birthdays from your Contacts will not be affected) as early as March 11, 2019. Events created from Google Calendar were not impacted.

All +1s made on external websites have been deleted.

Phone numbers that were only used for Google+ notifications have been deleted. Phone numbers used with other Google services on your Google Account were not deleted. You can check the status of your phone number here.

The consumer Google+ shutdown should not affect your Google My Business listing. These are 2 separate products with different accounts. Learn more