Google’s announcement confirms a Friday rumor from XDA Developers. XDA Developers writer Brandon Russell reported the word “sunset” was spotted in code embedded inside the Shopping app (version 59), leading him to conclude the app is on the chopping block. It turns out, he was right.
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The discovered lines of code in the Shopping app also featured the following statement: “The app is unavailable right now, but you can continue shopping on shopping.google.com,” impelling Russell to conclude that this is what Shopping app users will see once it’s officially shuttered. According to 9to5Mac, the message is already appearing for end-users after they update the Shopping app via the Google Play Store. “Within the next few weeks, we’ll no longer be supporting the Shopping app," Google told 9to5Mac. “All of the functionality the app offered users is available on the Shopping tab. We’ll continue building features within the Shopping tab and other Google surfaces, including the Google app, that make it easy for people to discover and shop for the products they love.” In other words, the search-engine giant is narrowing the Google Shopping experience to a web-only platform. Users can still access Google Shopping by searching for their desired product and filtering the results with the “Shopping” tab. The reason behind the app’s discontinuation is Google’s focus on conserving engineering resources.
