After running for almost 2 years, Google is shutting down Neighbourly, a neighbourhood app that allowed users to ask your neighbours questions, share local expertise and keep up with them. Google in a note said that the app hasn’t gained much of the traction, as it didn’t have many users.
‘We launched Neighbourly as a Beta app to connect you with your neighbours and make sharing local information more human and helpful. As a community, you’ve come together to celebrate local festivals, shared crucial information during floods, and answered over a million questions. But Neighbourly hasn’t grown, as we had hoped. In these difficult times, we believe that we can help more people by focusing on other Google apps that are already serving millions of people every day,’ Google said.
‘Starting May 12, 2020, Neighbourly Beta will stop working, and you will no longer be able to access the app. If you want to download a copy of your data, please visit Google Takeout on or before October 12, 2020,’ Google said in a blog post.
Google developed the Neighbourly app to help users get answers to local questions, such as 'who is a good surgeon?' and 'which festivals have free entry for the kids?'. Google believed these questions would help users, as cities keep changing, including the people who live there.
This decision comes nearly a month after Google decided to end its Wi-Fi station programme in India. Millions of people are now unable to use the free Wi-Fi available at over 400 railway stations and thousands of locations in India. Google initiated the programme to provide internet connections to those who can’t afford it.
