Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Spaces (app)

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Developer(s)
  
Google

License
  
Proprietary

Type
  
Group chat

Initial release
  
May 16, 2016; 10 months ago (2016-05-16)

Stable release
  
Android: 1.0.0.122115815 (May 16, 2016; 10 months ago (2016-05-16)) [±]

Operating system
  
iOS Android Windows macOS

Spaces is a proprietary cross-platform application for group discussions and messaging developed by Google. The app is intended as a content sharing platform where users can create a "space", invite their friends for discussion, and share videos, images, text, and other media. Google services such as the web browser Chrome, search engine Google Search, and video sharing platform YouTube are built into the app to allow users to source content from them. Launched on May 16, 2016, it is available to download on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS operating systems.

Contents

On February 24, 2017, it was announced that Google would be discontinuing Spaces on April 17, 2017.

History

On May 16, 2016, product director Luke Wroblewski announced the launch of Spaces, "a tool for small group sharing". Google will follow up the launch by setting up spaces for different developer sessions at its upcoming 2016 I/O conference.

The app was available on Google Play on May 17, 2016, for Android devices running Android 4.1 or higher.

On March 3rd, starting from then, Spaces announced you can only print, view and delete spaces.

In February 2017, Spaces announced it would transfer to a read only mode prior to shutting down fully on April 17th.

Features

Spaces allows group chatting and messaging between users. A user can initiate a conversation by creating a 'space' and then inviting his/her friends to join via messaging, email, or another social network. Once inside a 'space', there’s a box at the bottom of the screen where one can tap buttons to post links and images and other content to the chat room. A conversational view lets users see what the group is talking about.

Google products such as Google Chrome, Google Search, and YouTube are in built into the app to allow users to find and share articles, videos and images without leaving the app. It requires a Gmail account to sign up.

The following are the types of posts that a user can share in his/her "space":

  • Links - URLs of media which are automatically embedded
  • Videos - YouTube videos are integrated for mobile users; however, desktop users can directly search in the YouTube database as well as see their recently watched videos
  • Photos - With support for multiple-image uploads, users can directly post through their camera roll or through Google Photos
  • Text - Plain text, without formatting support
  • References

    Spaces (app) Wikipedia