[Open Thread] Are Google Apps Still Great, Or Just Getting In Their Own Way?

Andy Walker / Android Authority

🗣️ This is an open thread.

We want to hear from you! Share your thoughts in the comments and vote in the poll below — your take might be featured in a future roundup.

Over the weekend, my colleague Rita El Khoury published an article detailing how a stripped-down version of a Google app is better than the full-fat thing. In particular, she argued that Google Maps Go trumps Google Maps, especially for doing the one thing the main app should be good at: navigation.

Earlier this month, our Joe Maring also posted a detailed look at Google Gallery, a threadbare offline alternative to Google Photos, and declared it a far smarter way to browse photos stored on your phone than, well…Photos!

This begs the question: Have Google’s mainline apps grown too bloated, too cumbersome, and lost track of their core reason for existing? To offer a nickel, I feel that some have been stuffed to the brim with AI features and other fluff, while others remain ripe for further development (ahem, Tasks).

So here are the questions:

Do you think that Google’s mainline apps have grown too bloated for their own good?
Should Google offer “lite” alternatives to all of its apps?
Are you often searching for other options to Google’s apps, or are you happy with their functionality?
If you could have just one new Google “Lite” app, what would it be?