Google is killing another one of its experimental apps — Neighbourly. The company said it’s shutting down the app on May 12, as the project didn’t take off as expected.
The search giant first unveiled the app in May 2018 as a test in the Indian city of Mumbai to let you explore your neighborhood with help from local experts. Later in November, it expanded its base to a few more cities in the country. However, it failed to gain traction, likely because it simply didn’t have enough users to deliver an engaging experience. It never even came out of beta.
[Read: YouTube ‘Shorts’ is Google’s answer to TikTok, says report]
In an email sent to customers, Google mentioned that the community answered over a million questions related to their localities, but the project didn’t grow the way the company had hoped:
We launched Neighbourly as a Beta app to connect you with your neighbors and make sharing local information more human and helpful. As a community, you’ve come together to celebrate local festivals, shared crucial information during floods, and answered over a million questions.
But Neighbourly hasn’t grown as we had hoped. In these difficult times, we believe that we can help more people by focusing on other Google apps that are already serving millions of people everyday.
Google also pointed towards Google Maps Local Guide to help people in your region find answers related to the area.
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The announcement comes at an interesting time: Facebook just rolled out a ‘community help’ feature for people to request or offer assistance in their neighborhoods during the coronavirus crisis.
The app is closing down on May 12; you’ll be able to download your Neighbourly content until October 12. Another one for the Google Graveyard.
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