Google Plus, the company’s failed social network, is officially gone as of today. After Google Plus personal accounts were shut down last year, Google announced that it would be replacing the social network for enterprise users with Google Currents. Currents is generally available starting today, and the Google Plus Android and iOS apps have been rebranded to Google Currents to reflect the change (via 9to5Google).
Currents, given its enterprise focus, is designed to help people within organizations communicate with each other. Users can post and comment on discussions and can see content in a News Feed-like “home stream,” which can be ranked by relevance or chronologically, according to Google. G Suite admins can also moderate discussions if needed.
If you want to get an idea of what the refreshed mobile apps look like, check out these screenshots from the Google Play Store:
In 2018, Google began a multiphase process to shut down Google Plus, in part because it had “low usage and engagement.” But the company also identified security vulnerabilities that factored into its decision to shut it down (one of which accelerated the shutdown plans by four months). Google started to shut down and delete consumer accounts on Google Plus in April 2019, and it launched Currents in beta shortly after.
This actually isn’t the first Google product named Currents; the company offered a magazine app under that name until 2013. That year, Google rebranded that app as Google Play Newsstand, which was eventually replaced by Google News.
