Thursday, 1 May 2014

Google Drive app is dead. Long live Google Drive app.




Hot on the heels of Google's new Docs and Sheets apps, the technology giant has also released a brand new update for the Goole Drive app. The good news is that Drive for iOS now has an optional passcode lock feature that allows you to protect your documents with a 4-digit code. The bad news is that Google has removed the ability to edit your documents from within the app, returning Drive to just another document viewer like it was when it first appeared in the App Store.


The Google Drive app is dead, long live the Google Drive app.


When you press the normal pencil icon to edit a document, the app -- in a move that is either passive aggressive or tone deaf -- asks you "Trying to edit?" Then it displays a screen prompting you to download Google's new Docs apps, which unsurprisingly just came out yesterday.



If you're one of the people who still trusts app providers to give you a warning before they cripple your apps, maybe it's time to stop. Just like ComiXology before it, Google Drive doesn't warn users before they download the new update that a major feature -- arguably the major feature -- of the app is no longer available.


Instead you'll just see this in the store.



Who wouldn't want to add password security to the already incredible Google Drive app? Why there are even "performance improvements"! Little did we know that the answer for everyone who wants Google Drive to remain an incredible app is to not update it. It would have been nice to have had a little warning, but then Google couldn't blindside you into downloading their two new apps to have the same functionality you once had with one.





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