The next few weeks will represent the last opportunity to be able to download the application.
Though the standalone Street View app is still available to download as of the writing of this article, the time in which that will be possible is getting shorter as Google has announced that it will soon be shutting down.
The application is headed to a digital product graveyard that has been increasing in size over the years.
Shutdown notices have been discovered and reported on as the latest version of the Street View app was decompiled. At the time this article was written, the end of the application had not been officially announced, but shutdown notices were worked into the latest app version.
Within those shutdown notices, Google will be announcing that the application is coming to an end and that product support will cease on March 21, 2023.
Madison Gouveia, a spokesperson for Google, has confirmed the claims published in the media that the application’s days are numbered. Gouveia also pointed out that Google will be withdrawing that application from app stores in coming weeks, well ahead of the end of its product support.
The Street View app was first announced by Google back in 2015 and is available on Android and iOS.
The dedicated application makes it possible for users to upload their own spherical images captured by phones or spherical cameras. In 2021, the Photo Paths feature was also included in the application, which makes it possible for users to upload a set of 2D images for locations and roads that haven’t yet been incorporated into the app by an official vehicle capture.
The Street View feature itself isn’t coming to an end, only the dedicated app. That feature is still going to be a part of the main Google Maps application. This way, users will still be able to use the feature from within their Maps app to explore all the places around the world that have been captured and uploaded by the tech giant’s cameras. It is also possible for users to continue using Photo Spheres within the Maps app, and to use Street View Studio to publish 360º video. That said, when the app shuts down, there won’t be any more access for Photo Paths. Any previously submitted images into Photo Path will continue to be viewable through the main Maps application.
