Google One Shutting Down Its VPN Service: What Users Need to Know

Tech giant Google has suffered yet another setback and yet another of its services is about to bite the dust. Google has announced that the Google One VPN service will soon be discontinued because “people weren’t using it.” Google has a history of killing products from time to time, which happens more when it notices that many people aren’t using them, and the same now seems to be true for the One VPN service.

Google One introduced this VPN service back in October 2020 and son it became available on all plans and platforms. It was originally pitched to the public as something that offered “an extra layer of online security for your Android phone” and “peace of mind that your data is safe.” Currently, the VPN service is available in the Google One app for Android and iOS. Initially, after its launch, the VPN service required payment of $9.99 per month premium plan, however, soon in March 2023, it was reduced to $1.99 per month.

Google told 9to5Google that they are now “disabling the VPN feature because [they] found that people aren’t using it.” The company added that the devaluation will allow the team to “refocus” and “support more in-demand features with Google One.”

Earlier this year, Google One crossed the 100 million subscriber milestone and CEO Sundar Pichai teased it as a future growth area that is driven by AI. Google One VPN will be phased out of service in the next few months, but no specific timeline has been provided yet. Existing users of Google One VPN will be directed to third-party VPN options. On the other hand, the free Pixel VPN introduced with the Pixel 7 series in 2022 remains unchanged.