Google Is Shutting Down Its IoT Platform Android Things

The company scaled Android Things back in 2019, and now it's killing it off completely.

The Google Graveyard continues to grow, as the company is adding Android Things to the list of casualties. The internet of things (IoT) subsection of Android has been on its way out for some time, with Google announcing that it was scaling it back in February 2019.

The company has announced on the Android Developers site that it will no longer allow the creation of new Android Things projects using the NXP i.MX7D and Raspberry Pi 3B.

Say Goodbye to Android Things

Google has a nice little FAQ page that breaks down everything developers need to know about the end of Android Things. It sounds fairly simple, and it seems to follow the trend for how these sorts of things are sunsetted.

First, Google has announced that new projects can only be created until January 5, 2021. After that, Android Things will go into a sort of maintenance mode. During that time, developers can use the Android Things console to build images and serve over the air updates for their existing projects.

That semi-alive state will last until January 5, 2022, at which point the console will be turned down, and all project data will be deleted. Essentially, at that point, Android Things will be completely dead.

There Are Plenty of IoT Services Out There!

While Google might be saying goodbye to Android things, the NXP i.MX7D and Raspberry Pi 3B are capable of so much, and there are still tons of projects you can do with them. When one service goes away, it opens the door for all kinds of new ones to rise!

About The Author