Google has announced that its Cloud Print service will cease to exist on December 31, 2020. Before then, the company advises users to look for an alternative to its cloud-based print service, such as Chrome OS and Android’s native print features.
In a document on the help page for Chrome Enterprise, Google reports that computers and smartphones will no longer be able to use Cloud Print from January 1, 2021. This service makes it possible to send print jobs to a printer remotely. Google is already announcing this so that the loyal customer base of the service has enough time to migrate to another printing solution.
The fact that Google is discontinuing support for Cloud Print is not unexpected. There is now much less need for such a cloud-based print service than when Cloud Print was introduced nearly a decade ago. For example, Chrome OS, for which Cloud Print was mainly intended, now has a built-in print function and the same has been true since 8.0 Oreo for Android.
In addition, printer manufacturers nowadays often offer their own app to print via the cloud. Despite all the alternatives available, Cloud Print is still popular among users to this day. According to AndroidPolice, the app surpassed one billion installs in January this year. It should be noted that the Cloud Print app was pre-installed on numerous Android devices for years.