Google Is Shutting Down Picasa On May 1, 2016

Google has finally decided to kill Picasa Web albums on May 1, 2016. This step was expected by many as it doesn’t make sense investing time and resources in a product similar to Google Photos.

When Google launched Google Photos, numerous speculations were made regarding the future of Picasa. In order to focus entirely on the new Google Photos service, Google has finally decided to kill Picasa Web Albums service on May 1, 2016.

Talking about Picasa’s history, it was launched in 2002, and Google bought it from Lifescape in 2004 after the service became a success. However, with the advent of mobile apps and services like Facebook and Instagram, web services and desktop apps lost their appeal.

Google made this announcement on Picasa blog where it expressed its commitment to make Google Photos much better and add more functionalities. The company said that it doesn’t make much sense to dedicate resources to two different products of same nature.

What will happen to my pictures in Picasa Web Albums?

Google has made it very easy to access your Picasa Web Albums pictures. All you need to do is log in to Google Photos, and all your content will already be there. With Google Photos, you can continue organizing your pictures and sharing them.

If you don’t wish to use Google Photos and view specific content like captions, comments, or tags, Google will be creating a new place to access your Picasa Web Albums data. Here, you will be allowed to view, delete, or download albums (creating new albums, editing and organizing them will be only allowed in Google Photos).

What will happen to Picasa desktop application?

Picasa desktop application is one of the most popular free programs used for easy photo editing. After March 15, 2016, Google won’t be supporting the application. However, if you’ve already installed the application, it will continue to work as it does today without any improvement in future.

“We apologize for any inconvenience this transition causes, but we want to assure you that we are doing this with the aim of providing the best photos experience possible. Google Photos is a new and smarter product, that offers a better platform for us to build amazing experiences and features for you in the future,” said Anil Sabharwal, Head of Google Photos.

Read the complete Google announcement here on Picasa’s blog