Google announced many innovative projects during its annual Google I/O conferences. Yet many of them ended up being abandoned despite a high-profile launch. A look back at 9 Google projects that did not survive the test of time.
Google Wave
Announced: Google I/O 2009
Status: never widely deployed, abandoned in 2012
Presented as a revolution in online communication, Google Wave aimed to merge email, chat, collaborative editing and social networking. The tool was too complex and ahead of its time, and never managed to win over the general public.
Users struggled to understand how to use it, and Google eventually announced the service would be discontinued as early as 2010. It was completely shut down in 2012. Wave will be remembered as a visionary but poorly executed project.
Total lifespan: 3 years 
Google+
Announced: Google I/O 2011
Status: launched, closed in 2019
With Google+, the web giant wanted to compete with Facebook. Integrated across the Google ecosystem, it nevertheless never found its audience. The final blow? A security flaw exposing the data of 500,000 users for three years.
Google announced the shutdown of Google+ in 2018, effective in April 2019. A ghost social network that convinced neither users… nor even Google itself.
Total lifespan: 8 years
Google Glass
Announced: Google I/O 2012
Status: launched, never rolled out to the public, abandoned in 2023
Google Glass were meant to embody the future of augmented reality. Too expensive, divisive in design and surrounded by privacy controversies, they never won over the general public.
After an attempt on the professional market, the project was officially buried in 2023. But at Google I/O 2025, Google unveiled a new XR glasses prototype, once again reigniting the dream of connected glasses.
Total lifespan: 11 years
Google Hangouts
Announced: Google I/O 2013
Status: launched, then abandoned in 2022 in favor of Google Chat/Meet
What was it? A chat service inside Google products (it lacked ambition but it worked).
Launched to unify messaging on Android, Hangouts was quickly adopted… before being slowly neglected by Google. After several years of transition, the app was officially shut down in November 2022.
Google now offers Chat and Meet instead, and provides a way to export conversations via Google Takeout. Yet another Google messaging service that fell into oblivion.
Total lifespan: 9 years
Google Play Music
Announced: Google I/O 2013
Status: launched, then replaced by YouTube Music and discontinued in 2020
Google Play Music let you store and stream your personal music. But with the rise of YouTube Music, the service was gradually phased out. It was officially closed in December 2020, with data permanently deleted in February 2021. Users had the option to migrate their libraries via Google Takeout or directly to YouTube Music.
Total lifespan: 9 years
Google Cardboard
Announced: Google I/O 2014
Status: launched, then discontinued in 2021
What was it? A cardboard box where you slipped your phone and placed it on your face to view VR (yes, really).
Google Cardboard offered a playful, low-cost approach to virtual reality: a cardboard headset in which you slid your smartphone. Despite its accessibility, the experience remained limited. In 2021, Google officially stopped selling Cardboard. It marked the end of a dream of democratic VR…and a turn toward more robust solutions.
Total lifespan: 7 years
Google Brillo
Announced: Google I/O 2015
Status: abandoned, replaced by Android Things (itself abandoned in 2021)
Designed to power the Internet of Things, Brillo was meant to be a lightweight system for connected devices. It was replaced in 2016 by Android Things, which met the same fate in 2021 due to lack of adoption. Despite its ambition, the project never really took off. A missed opportunity, especially as home automation has since exploded.
Total lifespan: inknown, but apparently not for long ^^
Google Allo
Announced: Google I/O 2016
Status: launched in 2016, abandoned in 2019
Allo was meant to be Google’s smart messaging app, with Google Assistant built in from the start. But the app never found its audience, eclipsed by WhatsApp, Messenger and the like.
In 2019, Google announced its cancellation. Some features were integrated into Messages, the SMS/RCS app now central to Android’s strategy.
Total lifespan: 3 years
Google Daydream VR
Announced: Google I/O 2016
Status: launched, abandoned in 2019
The spiritual successor to Cardboard, Daydream promised a more immersive mobile VR. The Daydream View headset and a few manufacturer partnerships appeared, but content remained too limited. In 2019, Google ended support for Daydream, which wasn’t even compatible with some recent Pixel phones. Proof that mobile VR, despite early hopes, failed to convince.
Total lifespan: 3 years
The takeaway from Google I/O: 'skeptical but listening'
Every year, Google I/O is an opportunity for the company to reveal its vision of the future, and the 2025 edition was no exception. But if Google’s history teaches us one thing, it’s that not all promises come true. Some projects are abandoned and others change shape or name.
In short, when faced with Google I/O’s big announcements, it’s best to stay critical: Silicon Valley’s dreams don’t always become our reality. Curious, yes. Naive, no.
The article "These 9 projects announced at Google I/O were all buried (here’s why)" was published on the site Abondance.
