14 DAY TRIAL // Search giant Google has just announced that a series of old versions of the G Suite mobile and desktop apps would be retired in approximately a month and a half, and users are recommended to update to the latest builds as soon as possible.
Needless to say, while it’s recommended to always be on the latest versions of each app to benefit from the latest improvements, quite a significant number of users typically keep running older builds.
The forced update, however, is sometimes the only way to go, and Google this time explains that such a change is necessary because of API and service infrastructure upgrades.
End users affected too
In other words, because of changes under the hood, the older apps can no longer be supported, so installing the latest versions is the only way to go. Google doesn’t provide more information on these changes, but on the other hand, the company explains it started the work on these upgrades back in 2018.
“In 2018, we began making changes to our API and service infrastructure to improve performance and security. As a result of these changes, some older versions of G Suite desktop and mobile apps may stop working on August 12, 2020. In particular, versions released prior to December 2018 may be impacted,” Google says.
The following apps will be impacted (and they must be updated to the latest versions):
- Classroom iOS app
- Docs Android and iOS apps
- Drive Android and iOS apps
- Drive File Stream desktop app
- Gmail iOS app
- Sheets Android and iOS apps
- Slides Android and iOS apps
Google says today’s announcement impacts all G Suite customers but also users with personal Google accounts, so yes, everybody must be running the latest versions of the apps mentioned above by the time the deadline is reached.