Google has announced that they are shutting down their cloud-based printing solution, Cloud Print. Cloud Print has been around for almost a decade and has been a go-to choice for printing pages directly from the web using Google Chrome. This has been a handy feature since it even enabled older printers to be able to print pages even with no support for internet connection.
Cloud Print was useful since you could print pages directly from any device. You could print from Chrome, your smartphone, and even remotely via the internet.
The service was launched in 2010 and has been in the beta stage for almost a decade. Nearly ten years in the beta stage, Google is finally laying the service to rest on December 31st, 2020. This is according to the emails sent to G Suite admins last week.
Google also added new support pages on the same, advising Cloud Print users to migrate to native printing options.
“Beginning January 1st, 2021, devices across all operating systems will no longer be able to print using Google Cloud Print. We recommend that over the next year, you identify an alternative solution and execute a migration strategy,” stated the company in its support pages.
An alternative solution has been laid already for Chrome OS users. Google says they have been improving native printing on Chrome OS for years and will continue adding features.
For Android, you don’t need Cloud Print since Google added a native print feature in Android Oreo. On top of that, modern printers also have their own apps that you can use. So, Cloud Print isn’t as much useful as it used to be. But for people used to Cloud Print, this may still not be a good move by Google even though there are plenty of options available now.