Google One is more complex to understand than ever

Google keeps complicating its Google One features, and it is getting old. Google One was supposed to simplify things. It was meant to be a tidy subscription that replaced your jumble of Drive storage and Photos backup and came with a few added perks. But Google One lately feels more like a game of subscription whack-a-mole where features pop in and out of existence faster than you can use them. Just look at the recent news of Google killing off its VPN service later this year.

Meet Google One

It was meant to streamline the company’s various storage plans

Google One was announced in 2018 and launched later that same year. The idea behind the service was to simplify Google’s various cloud storage plans. It consolidated Drive storage, expanded Google Photo benefits, and threw in some perks, such as live support for subscribers. The focus was on clarity and value for the user.

But Google didn’t include YouTube Premium (and YouTube Music) with its subscription. This was clearly a missed opportunity and left many users scratching their heads. Why didn’t their all-in-one Google package include the company’s most successful products?

Things got even more confusing with the introduction of niche features like “Premium video calling” and “dark web monitoring.” These felt less like genuine benefits and more like Google trying to justify its pricing. Nobody really wanted these random features.

Google VPN will be gone just like that

Yet another useful Google product for the graveyard

Google added VPN protection to the Google One subscription in 2023. This was clearly a move made to counter the Apple One subscription, which came with Apple’s version of a VPN built in. Google’s VPN was kinda-sorta useful, if you used it. Let’s be clear here: Google’s VPN was not a fully-fledged VPN like you would get from other dedicated companies. It didn’t have a no-log policy, lacked strong encryption protocols, and there was no kill switch function. Plus, it was Google, and we all know how the company handles our personal data.

Google VPN will be no more before the year is out. Google announced the death of VPN for Google One subscribers less than a year after introducing it, effectively raising our Google One prices by removing a feature, seeing we are losing a benefit without the price reflecting this.

Magic eraser confusion

This is a try-before-you-buy gimmick, not a feature

Magic Eraser is an effective tool for erasing unwanted elements from your photos. Google announced the feature in 2023 and made it seem like all Google One subscribers would have access to the tool. Alas, this is Google we’re talking about.

The company has recently announced the Magic Eraser will be limited, even for Google One subscribers. Now it’s a “try before you buy” kind of situation, where you are limited to ten edits per month. You can unlock the full power of Magic Eraser with a pricey 2 TB subscription to Google One. That’s hardly customer-friendly, but it sure lines up with how Google loves to incentivize this expensive plan rather than offer more options between a minuscule 200GBs and a whopping 2TBs.

The 2 TB tier

It’s like the 200 GB tier but with AI

The 2 terabyte tier of Google One comes with everything the lower tiers include, but Google tosses in full unlimited use of Magic Eraser and Google Gemini Advanced to sweeten the deal. But it’s pricey. You’re looking at nearly $30 a month once you factor in taxes. If you’re an avid AI user and pay for ChatGPT 4, then this might actually be worth the switch. After all, you get near-unlimited storage with it. But for us normal folk who don’t see AI as much more than a gimmick, well, nothing justifies this price hike.

The gimmick parade continues

Google One is all show and no substance

Google One does not feel like a serious subscription unless you’re paying for the highest tiers. Sure, there are some perks thrown in, but they feel more like gimmicks. Take Premium video calling. It sounds fancy, but do you really need some cartoony video effects and noise cancellation for a quick chat with Grandma?

Dark web monitoring sounds dramatic in theory, but does it really protect you? The most it does is show you which passwords have been compromised, something the best password managers have been doing for years. And don’t get me started on how useless “enhanced appointment scheduling” really is. I can actually input my appointments in my calendar for free.

Serious competition with Apple

Apple One puts Google One to shame

Take a look over at the Apple One side of things and weep. Here’s a subscription service done right. Apple bundles a ton of tempting services into one seamless package. We’re talking iCloud storage, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, a VPN, and a custom email domain. If you grab the top tier, with 2 TB of storage, you also get Apple Fitness and Apple News+.

There are no gimmicks here. Just actually useful services. If Google doesn’t get its act together, Apple will become increasingly tempting. Us diehard Android users just want something similar from Google.

How Google One SHOULD be

Just add these things and make users happy for once

Google, if you’re listening, we understand that subscriptions are extremely lucrative. But you’re doing it wrong. If you add and take away features all the time, you muddy the waters and ruin your value proposition. We don’t want gimmicks.

Here’s what we do want:

Storage: Drive, Gmail, and Photos share storage; we get that. And we’re happy with what Google One provides in this regard.

YouTube Premium: We should get YouTube Premium as part of our Google One subscription. Heck, we’d be willing to pay more for Google One if it came with this.

YouTube Music: The same goes for YouTube Music. Give us all the things for one bundled price, please.

Gemini: You have a real chance to be different from all the others here. Gemini Advanced as part of Google One is a good value.

Reality check

We’re trapped in the Google ecosystem for now, but that doesn’t mean Google gets carte blanche to exploit our loyalty. Give us clear reasons to pay our hard-earned money for Google One, and we’ll stay. Focus on good features, not gimmicks, or risk pushing even your most dedicated users to greener pastures.