Google Launches New Drive Desktop App, Slowly Kills Backup & Sync

Source: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central

As announced earlier this year, Google is officially rolling out the new Google Drive for Desktop app. This new app will replace the more consumer-focused backup and sync and Google Drive file stream for business. The File Stream app was once superseded by Google Drive for Desktop, but the Backup & Sync app still exists separately. It will change.

In a blog post, the Google Workspace team said:

Earlier this year, we announced that we are working to unify our two existing Google Drive sync clients – Backup & Sync and Drive File Stream – into a single sync client called Drive for Desktop. By doing this, we are creating a powerful and unified sync client with the best and most used features of Backup & Sync and Drive File Stream.

While you can continue to use Backup & Sync, for now, the app will stop working from October 1. In the period leading up to this date, Google will prompt you to update to Google Drive for Desktop. These new in-app notifications will start from August 18 through October, when you’ll need to change.

Google says the goal of this new desktop app is to provide a “consistent experience” for any reader user. Previous Drive experiences were split into two apps, offering different functionality and saving files to different locations. This new application fills this gap. Google will also use automatic file sync, a feature that will allow you to access your most important files offline without having to deliberately download them first.

You can download the new Google Drive for Desktop for Windows PCs or macOS devices here.