google: Google removes ‘Go’ branding from another app: What does it mean for users – Times of India

Google recently decided to shut down YouTube Go which will is likely to stop working from August. The company is shutting down the app that is optimised for lower-end hardware as it deems the service to be no longer necessary. According to 9to5Google, the tech giant has now removed the “Go” branding from another app. The report suggests that Google’s “Gallery Go” app has lost he its “Go” branding and it might indicate the changes coming to the lightweight versions of the first-party apps that are designed to run smoothly on low-end devices. Google rolled out these “Go” apps for devices that run on Android Go.
What is the Android Go OS?
The Android Go operating system was introduced by Google in 2017 along with Android version 8.0 Oreo. `The company launched this version of the operating system optimised for lower-end hardware. First-party apps, that were a part of this initiative were redesigned for the OS variant. The first waves of apps that used the “Go” branding included — Google Search, Assistant, YouTube, Maps, and Gmail.
What is the Gallery Go app?
Google launched the Gallery Go in 2019 as a lightweight variant of the company’s Photos app. However, the Gallery Go app is designed particularly for offline usage and comes in at under 10MB size. This app was capable of organising users’ library automatically into — people, selfies, nature, animals, documents, videos and movies. Moreover, the app also supports simple auto-enhance editing.
What has happened to the Gallery Go app?
As per the report, Google has updated the app with a new version (1.8.8.436428459) where the Go branding has been omitted from the name and is just called “Gallery”. The company has removed the “Go” word from the — icon/name, app bar, and Play Store listing. This app boasts over 100 million downloads and it is one of the few Go apps that are available for all devices including — Search, Maps and its Navigation component among others.’
Other apps that don’t have the “Go” branding anymore
Earlier, Google did a branding change of this nature with another app. In 2018, the company changed the name of the “Files Go” app to “Files by Google” that marked the app pivoting to a wider audience. However, it is unclear if Gallery will follow a similar path, considering Google Photos to be a popular and important product.
Future of Google’s “Go” branding
The report didn’t mention whether a wider alteration of the Android Go project is on the way, at least for apps. In 2021, Google announced the Android 12 Go operating system with several changes, expected to release this year. However, the company’s decision to remove YouTube Go app suggests that the first-party apps are optimised enough.