Google to Shut Down Picasa on March 15 in Shift to Google Photos

Google on Friday said it will be shuttering Picasa to shift its focus to the new Google Photos service launched less than a year ago.

"Since the launch of Google Photos, we've had a lot of questions around what this means for the future of Picasa. After much thought and consideration, we've decided to retire Picasa over the coming months in order to focus entirely on a single photo service in Google Photos. We believe we can create a much better experience by focusing on one service that provides more functionality and works across mobile and desktop, rather than divide our efforts across two different products," Google Photos chief Anil Sabharwal said in a blog post.

Pictures or videos in Picasa online albums will be automatically available in people's Google Photos accounts, according to Sabharwal.

Those wishing not to shift to the new service will still be able to view, download or delete photos in Picasa albums, but the software won't be updated and adding images won't be an option.

"As of March 15, 2016, we will no longer be supporting the Picasa desktop application. For those who have already downloaded this-or choose to do so before this date-it will continue to work as it does today, but we will not be developing it further, and there will be no future updates. If you choose to switch to Google Photos, you can continue to upload photos and videos using the desktop uploader at photos.google.com/apps... We apologize for any inconvenience this transition causes, but we want to assure you that we are doing this with the aim of providing the best photos experience possible," Sabharwal said.

"Google Photos is a new and smarter product."