Google constantly cooks up new inventions, but many of them were put out to pasture. Some of those products werebeloved by users and did not deserve to be phased out, while others were probably never going to catch on. The company used to get rid of a bunch of products once every quarter, but now it just does it whenever it wants. The latest to join the Google graveyard soon are theJamboard appand its whiteboard devices.
Jamboard was a whiteboarding app that Google unveiled in 2016 in an effort to create a new collaborative tablet interface for G Suite, now known asGoogle Workspace. After seven years, Google announced in ablog postthat it’s shutting down the app in late 2024 to focus on working with third-party whiteboard apps such as FigJam, Lucidspark, and Miro.
Google will cut access to the Jamboard app starting on July 27, 2025, and it will then be put in read-only mode. This means you’ll still be able to view your old whiteboard slides called Jams, but you won’t be able to create or edit any new ones. Then you’ll have until December 31 to back up your Jamboard files before Google shuts down the app and deletes everything forever.
The search giant is partnering with FigJam, Lucidspark, and Miro to bring digital whiteboarding to Workspace, allowing teams to continue collaborating on whiteboards acrossGoogle Meet, Drive, and Calendar. Google has also promised to help users migrate their Jamboard files to the new apps without losing existing content in their organization. These retention and migration tools will be available in the coming months.
According to customer feedback, Workspace customers liked those third-party whiteboarding apps better because they had more features, like infinite canvas size, templates, and voting. This prompted Google to switch to these apps for Workspace, freeing up company resources so it can focus on core collaboration services across Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
In early 2024, those apps will be integrated into Avocor’s Series One Board 65 and Desk 27 devices, which will replace Google’s original Jamboard display. This is because the$5,000 Jamboard hardwarewill stop receiving security and feature updates on July 29, 2025, during which Google will also remove Jamboard device management from the admin console. If you plan to continue using the 55-inch display after that date, Google has set up anFAQ pagefor your guidance, though it should be noted that the device will have limited functionality once its auto-updates expire.
Google will also stop all license subscriptions for Jamboard devices on June 17, 2025. That said, organizations with an upcoming renewal may continue their subscription until that date for a prorated fee. Since the transition means upgrading to new whiteboarding hardware, Google will compensate educational institutions for their Jamboard devices, knowing that not every school can afford to buy new whiteboards every few years.
