This is every product Google killed in 2024

Summary

Google is infamous for launching a barrage of products, only to kill most of them off a few years later.
Some failures this year included Keen, Jamboard, and Nest Secure.
Other products, like the Chromecast, were simply rebranded and/or transitioned.

One of the things Google is infamous for is launching a product to great fanfare, only to kill it off when it’s not immediately successful. Stadia is a prime example. In some cases, even the fanfare was never there — does anyone remember Neighbourly? Probably not, but you might have if Google had actually put some money and marketing behind it.

Several more products were added to the Google Graveyard in 2024. A few of these can be blamed on Google’s bad habits, but in other cases the company transitioned people over to new products, whether they wanted it or not. For example, you’ll now be buying a Google TV Streamer instead of a Chromecast.

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1 Keen

The Pinterest that never had a chance

Google

Keen was doomed from the start — I’ve been a tech journalist for decades, and I missed its launch, much less that it was still going. It first arrived in 2020 as a competitor to Pinterest. The only practical differences, however, were its ties to Google, and pinboards being renamed to “keens.”

If you release a product that’s no better than what everyone is already using, no one’s going to bother to switch over.

The lesson is one that game publishers have learned with the glut of failed “live service” games, such as Concord and Suicide Squad. If you release a product that’s no better than what everyone is already using, no one’s going to bother to switch over, especially if you don’t promote it.

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2 Nest Secure

Leaving homeowners in the lurch

While we might laugh about some of the things Google kills off, this one had serious ramifications. Nest Secure was the company’s home alarm system, revolving around a keypad hub paired to door and window sensors. The product wasn’t migrated from the Nest app to Google Home and the hub was bricked in April 2024, since it could no longer go online. People who depended on Secure for protection were forced to take a replacement from ADT or else choose a platform on their own, like Arlo or Ring.

What’s confusing is that Google still offers Nest security products, namely the Cam and Doorbell lineups. It may be that Secure just wasn’t popular enough to justify development resources.

A house with a yellow and pink background.

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3 Dropcam

Now that’s product support

Google

A positive smart home story comes in the form of Dropcam. While no new Dropcam products have shipped since Google bought the company in 2014, existing cameras received support until April 2024. When that deadline arrived, Google offered free Nest Cams to remaining owners. The move might not have satisfied everyone, but it was better than having to switch brands, as happened with Nest Secure.

Dropcam was originally founded in 2009, so it’s possible that some people were using its cameras for well over a decade — before 1080p was common, never mind smart home ecosystems like Google Home.

The Google Nest Cam Battery sits next to the Google Nest Cam Wired on a bookshelf

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4 Google Podcasts

A confusing competitor to Apple Podcasts

Google Podcasts should’ve been a slamdunk. While the term “podcasts” refers to Apple’s iPod, millions of people don’t use Apple devices, so they don’t have any reason to use Apple Podcasts (formerly a part of iTunes). In an alternate timeline, Google’s app could’ve become the default for the masses, especially on Android phones.

The company neglected the app, failing to build it into a robust (or even fully independent) entity. Its wind-down was announced on October 2023, completing in April 2024. An eventful month. The only Google-supported podcast platform is now YouTube Music, which offers the advantage of video support but isn’t as convenient for audio as some third-party apps.

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5 Chromecast

Adios, low-cost dongles

A hand holding a first generation Google Chromecast.

It’s easy to forget, but when the original Chromecast dongle shipped in 2013, it was a revelation. It brought advanced media streaming to any TV with an HDMI port for just $35. You did have to use a phone or computer to control that media, but it was worth the hassle given that rivals like the first-gen Apple TV cost several times as much. Chromecasts were also portable, letting users switch TVs on the fly.

The dongle’s underlying casting protocol has since become widespread across apps and devices. In a sense, Google hasn’t even killed the Chromecast lineup — it’s just that the Google TV Streamer doesn’t use the same branding, and it’s substantially larger and more expensive. It’s also more niche now that many TVs have Google TV built in.

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6 VPN by Google One

To spice up Google One subscriptions beyond their extra cloud storage, Google started including a VPN (virtual private network) service in October 2020. VPNs are mainly useful for extra security, but can also be used to get around arbitrary regional barriers, say if the US version of YouTube has something missing in Canada.

Google put an end to its VPN option in June 2024 — as a multiplatform offering, anyway. VPN technology is baked into Google Pixel devices, which for some shoppers may be a reason to choose them over other Android phones.

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7 Jamboard

A costly business venture

Google

The average consumer wasn’t aware of the Jamboard, but unlike Keen, Google expected that — the product was a 55-inch smart whiteboard aimed at the business market. You only need a smart whiteboard if you’re a school or large corporation, not if you’re jotting down grocery and to-do lists.

The Jamboard was doomed for a couple of reasons, beginning with its $5,000 pricetag, which was well above what similar whiteboards cost. You were also expected to use it with Google’s custom Jamboard software. Even if Google were less flaky as a company, organizations may not have been excited about paying for something so niche. The software stopped working on New Year’s Day 2025.

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8 Google Bard

A question of marketing?

Google

When Google first revealed its generative AI push in February 2023, it was under the Bard name, not Gemini. I’m still not entirely sure why Google switched branding a year later, since the term “bard” seems more apt for something that can talk to you and rewrite text. Bard’s output was even shakier than Gemini’s, though, and “Gemini” may sound a little sexier.

The good news is that Google seems firmly committed to Gemini. It’s everywhere, even highlighted in TV commercials for the Pixel 9. It should eventually replace Google Assistant, which is still found on some Android devices, as well as smart speakers and displays.