3 years ago, Google created Android ‘Nearby Notifications’ as a way for users to discover apps & Content based on what was nearby. The idea was to bring relevant & engaging Content to users – to provide useful information, proactively. Android developers have leveraged this technology to let users know about free WiFi nearby, provide guides while in a museum & list transit schedules at bus stops.
Google says it learned a lot building & launching Android Nearby Notifications. However, earlier this year, it noticed a significant increase in locally irrelevant and spammy notifications that were leading to a poor user experience. Google has determined that these notifications did not meet its high bar for the quality of Content delivered. As a result, it has now decided to discontinue the support for Nearby Notifications from December 6, 2018.
What It Means for Android Users
The users will cease to receive Nearby Notifications on their Android devices.
What It Means for Developers
On December 6, Google will stop delivering both Eddystone & Physical Web beacon notifications. Developers will still continue to have access to the beacon dashboard, & can deliver proximity-based experiences similar to Android Nearby Notifications via their own apps using Proximity Beacons API.
There are 2 related APIs Nearby Messages & Connections from Google that are available for developers to build device-to-device connectivity experiences, & also Fast Pair for device discovery & pairing. The company will continue to invest in these APIs & support products using these technologies.
It’s a good thing that Nearby is going to be discontinued. Most Android users were not aware of what Nearby was because Google did not promote it well to the end user. Those who were aware either turned off the feature or ignored the messages completely negating the intention it was created for. This was only meant for users to interact with what’s around them and not spam. However, the idea of proximity content is great and the implementation could be better. Look into NearBee for Android. It is much better than Google Nearby ever was and will continue to grow as a product.