Google kills two-year “Pixel Pass” subscription after just 22 months::Two years on a Pixel Pass was supposed to get you a new phone.

  • efrique@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    67
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    It has been a pretty short trip from “Don’t be evil” to “The cutting edge of late stage capitalism”

  • discusseded@programming.dev
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    19
    ·
    1 year ago

    Well, that solidifies my plan for graphene os on this 7pro and once fairphone comes state side I’m going all in. Been moving to Proton services and this will be the first and last Google phone I get. So sick of their backtracking on everything I enjoy. Fuck Google.

    • naeap@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Im running GrapheneOS on my 7 Pro and I like it very much. Only issue I had was Android Auto. That seems to be not possible to have…

  • Blaidd@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Lots of misunderstanding in these comments. Google Fi service is not going anywhere, Google is not cancelling any services. The Pixel Pass is basically just a bundle of optional services that can be added to your Fi account for a very slight discount. You do not get a free phone, you get interest free financing on your phone. Because they are cancelling the Pixel Pass Google has given me $100 credit towards my next phone, which is a better deal than the Pixel Pass itself.

    Like many people I’m not happy with a lot of things Google has been doing lately, but the Pixel Pass being cancelled is not important.

  • wahming@monyet.cc
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    That sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Telling people they get a new phone if they sign up for 2 years then cancelling it at the 22 month mark.

    • Tosti@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      while new signups are no longer allowed, existing users will be able to finish out their two-year term. The end of the term was supposed to mean re-upping with a shiny new device, but Google now says, “By the end of the 2 year term, you can’t upgrade to a new phone with Pixel Pass.”.

      They will serve out the contract. Would be absurd to open yourself up to lawsuits 2 months before end date.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    When the service launched in October 2021, Google said that every two years on the Pixel Pass would make you eligible for a brand new phone.

    but Google doesn’t answer its own question, saying only, "We offer the best value of our hardware products and give users the flexibility to purchase their favorite services.

    We continue to evaluate offers based on customer feedback and provide different ways for them to access the best of Google."

    That won’t happen here, though—while new signups are no longer allowed, existing users will be able to finish out their two-year term.

    You’ll receive a monthly bill for Google One, Google Play Pass, and YouTube Premium at the current discounted rate, which is visible in the email sent to you on August 29, 2023 with the subject line, ‘An important update on Pixel Pass.’

    To take some sting out of the move, Google is offering a “$100 loyalty reward credit” for active Pixel Pass subscribers.


    The original article contains 498 words, the summary contains 160 words. Saved 68%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • narc0tic_bird@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    This probably isn’t a big deal, but this is (and the fact that Google is an ad company) is the reason why I wouldn’t rely on any Google service or product that I couldn’t easily replace in a matter of minutes.

    • appel@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      It’s this kind of knee jerk on Google’s part that might save them a few bucks in the short term (presumably incentiviced with bonuses for the managers) but causes long time reputational damage over time.

      I don’t understand how seemingly no one up the chain considers this before pulling the plug so quickly.

      Don’t fuck with user trust. When you lose it it’s pretty hard to get back.

    • Objects in Space@infosec.pub
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I was all in for years and each product I’ve been burned, this is the last straw for me. As each thing I own fails or needs replacing, it won’t be Google.

      I am done, I looked past a lot of faults because of the overall capabilities of the ecosystem they created and they’ve slowly dismantled it and changed and tweaked everything to be annoying to use.

      It’s like they intentionally pick the best features, remove them and try to gaslight me into thinking it’s better now.

      I’m just done with them.

        • Objects in Space@infosec.pub
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          Your question really made me laugh because I was indeed rambling but the overall point was - I bought Google products, they’ve dismantled and changed things to make it less useful than it was or they have cancelled the product/program entirely. So I’m not buying their products anymore. It’s my opinion but it’s my money and I’m going to choose to spend it elsewhere.

          Hope that clears it up.

            • Objects in Space@infosec.pub
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              Pixel pass is the most recent service they’ve cancelled on me, my movies I bought on Google TV after being moved to YouTube but that service is gone too.

              Their assistant devices have slowly gone crazy and barely understand anything and half the features for them have been removed for one reason or another.

              Also the transition from the Nest app for my cameras which was amazing to the shitty Google home app which had half the features and didn’t work with all my cameras so I had half on nest and half on Google home.

              Also their WiFi app is now also in Google home and it has less features than the original stand alone. So it’s not all free services, it’s things I’ve paid for and been burned over and over again.

              I had a lot of their stuff over the years and it’s always great at first until… it’s not.

              • SnowdenHeroOfOurTime@unilem.org
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                Okay, this explanation does make sense. I’ve only ever really given money directly to Google by buying their phones, and recently a Google TV device. I have a Nest thermostat which I bought before they owned it, and while they haven’t actually messed anything up with it per se, it’s been really annoying how many times they’ve nagged me about migrating my Nest account to a Google account. Also they did cancel a bunch of features on Fitbit after they bought it. Granted I didn’t really use any of those features but I could see how that would be frustrating.

                The voice assistant is pretty bad. tbf though, I think Siri is as well. Apple doesn’t buy companies quite so often but I’m pretty sure they’ve changed their offerings over the years. A while back I went looking for a way to play my iTunes purchases on Linux and… that was not possible. The Apple DRM is a huge pain in the ass.

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      How dare they up their services prices like everyone else, they are the devil!

      Oh what’s that, if you had the service they have you $100 dollars off the phone you would have had to by anyway? Damn. That sucks that their customers will have to opt in to services instead of them all being grouped together.

      No part of this isnt sensationalized.

      Basically this says, “The service prices have gone up everywhere, instead of raising the grouped price we are just having you choose individual services you want”

    • CaptKoala@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I genuinely cannot switch my stock pixel to GOS fast enough 😭 I’m only taking my time to avoid data loss, rushed a switch like this in the past and it did me real dirty.

  • tsonfeir@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Say what you want about apple, but this is why they are winning. They don’t jump the gun, they don’t go home early, they stick with it consistently.

    They are no more expensive than Samsung. So, other than the walled garden app ecosystem keeping all the malware out, whattcha got?