Google has just announced that they will begin shutting down their Google+ Photos service on August 1. Android users will be the first to lose access to the service, with iOS and web users not far behind.
Google+ Photos has long been the glue that has held many users within the larger Google+ community, and now that Google is getting ready to ditch it I am left wondering what Google has in mind for the future of Google+ itself.
Are they planning to simply shut the social network down, keep it up and running as-is (but without the integration of Google+ Photos), or make changes to it and market it as “new and improved”? Only time will tell, but I doubt if we’ll have to wait all that long to find out.
In the meantime, if you have images stored in Google+ Photos, don’t fret about the possibility of losing them, because you won’t. All you have to do to continue accessing them is download and install the new stand-alone Google Photos app. Your photos should be ready and waiting for you just as soon as you launch the new app.