Google’s Grasshopper App Might Be Shutting Down in 2023
Google has a history of shutting down services that it feels are no longer successful or viable. Recently, the company announced the sunset of Stadia, its high-profile game streaming platform. Another potential shutdown has been leaked, but this time it’s the lesser-known Grasshopper app. The app was created by Google’s Area 120 team to teach coding skills, similar to Duolingo for language learning.
A banner has appeared on the home screen of the Grasshopper app, indicating that it will be shutting down on June 15, 2023. However, the rest of the story surrounding its shutdown isn’t so straightforward. When users click the “Read more” button, they are taken to a forum entry that appears to be from a Google employee’s profile, titled “Quick test, please ignore.” The post was published 14 days ago on February 24, indicating it was likely a placeholder for the actual shutdown announcement, which has not yet been updated with further details.
While we haven’t been able to reproduce the banner in the app or on the website, it’s possible the shutdown message was accidentally pushed out to a limited number of users.
The Grasshopper app was announced in 2018 and initially launched as an app on Android and iOS. It was later made available on the web in 2019. The service uses playful lessons to teach JavaScript, similar to language learning apps like Duolingo. The app encourages users to return daily to build their coding skills as they would in a language course.
In Google’s 2019 desktop launch announcement, the company revealed that the app had reached over two million people following its mobile release. The app was predominantly marketed as an option for adults interested in learning basic coding, with the possibility of helping them explore new career paths.
Given that Grasshopper was launched through Area 120, Google’s in-house incubator for start-up ideas, the potential shutdown isn’t surprising. The division suffered severe cuts in 2022 as a result of slowing economic growth, resulting in the cancellation of half of its projects.
We have reached out to Google to confirm the app’s impending shutdown.
Thanks: Anthonoy
