Unpacking the Google Essentials app

While I’m no longer at Google, I spent years working on unifying, aligning, and connecting the company’s myriad products & platforms (e.g. its “ecosystem”) through design, infrastructure, and governance (alongside many others’ critical efforts on policy, features, systems, and so much more). So when I read that a new "Google Essentials" PC app was launched, my curiosity was piqued. How would this app frame the Google ecosystem to a PC user? Which products would it push (or hide)? How personalized would this be? And would I discover a PC-native Google experience I was unfamiliar with (after still fondly remembering google.com/mac)?

TL;DR: At present, the "Google essentials" app is a no-frills list of links hidden in an HP PC’s Program Files folder that is strangely not ‘essential’ (no Search, no Chrome, no Gemini or AI, no YouTube, and none of the communications suite beyond Gmail) nor functional (it shows links to web pages, each with a one-line description of the product, for a subset of Google Workspace apps that you already know about, plus Photos, Android phone connectivity (Quick Share & Messages), and Play Games (beta)).

At best, Google Essentials could be an on-device personalized launchpad that could help users find more PC-native ways to install and integrate Google products they already use or might consider using, especially with Microsoft’s re-emboldened efforts to steer users from Google apps to Microsoft's; or it could help weave your Google data into flagship Windows products (like File Explorer, Outlook, Calendar, Edge, and even the Play Store into the Android susbsystem if it wanted to); or, it could one-click install the Google apps you select to install on your PC. At worst, it could be yet more preinstalled bloatware with little meaningful utility. Unfortunately, at present, the Essentials app is not delivering substantial value.

Specifically, the app provides these links to the following products: Play Games, Quick Share, Photos, Messages, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Gmail, and Calendar. 80% of the promoted apps require PWA installation, but there are no instructions or suggestions for how to install. And of those 8 apps, 4 of them aren't even configured to show the URL bar's tiny prompt to install. 

What this surfaces is not so much the limitations of the Essentials app itself, but rather the burden imposed on users when products in an ecosystem don't define, align, and execute on a shared set of principles before going to market. For instance: should our products show up as Apps or Web pages, or both? should our products be bundled by internal organizational structure or aggregate shared product usage by users? should our products individually or collectively choose which platform, accessibility, and component capabilities to adopt?

By not aligning in advance at the product definition stage, a product ecosystem can inadvertently shine a spotlight on their differences when only showing up together at the marketing stage.

Some general details of note from the Essentials app: 

• Google’s most important ecosystem-driving app, Chrome, is conspicuously absent. HP devices ship with Microsoft Edge, not Chrome, installed, so all the Google essentials links open in Edge.
• Further, there is not a hint of today’s ‘most-important thing’ (AI) in any part of this experience… no promotion of Gemini or mention of Workspace’s many rich AI features.
• Several key Workspace apps, like Meet, Chat, and Keep are missing. So are Contacts, one of Google users greatest pain points when shifting between web and native apps.
• By and large, the app promotes the Progressive Web App (PWA) versions of the products it features, even when a better native app exists (e.g. Google Drive for desktop) that would integrate nicely with other native apps. (Note: the Essentials app itself also appears to be a Progressive Web App.)
• With the exception of Play Games and Quick Share (the only two native apps promoted), the app doesn't show whether a product’s been installed. In other words, a user could open this app with all these products already installed and believe they still have some work to do.
• The app is not connected to your Google Account (as it is served on *.withgoogle.com), which means the “essentials” are assembled once for everyone, not by what products you personally use frequently. This means students & teachers won't see Classroom, creators won't see YouTube Studio, and marketers won’t see Ads or Analytics, no matter how many hours a day they use those products.
• Despite the Windows theme set to Dark mode for apps, the Google essentials app stayed bright white ignoring the display mode, which further suggests an absence of Material You theming for the app.
• While the app is only shipped via new HP devices, the app can easily be copied and run on other non-HP PCs. The only distinction at present is whether the 2-months-free Google One promotion is shown (it is on HP PCs; it is not on other PCs).
• No matter the device type you are on (I was on an HP desktop tower), you are told “Google recommends these apps to make the most of your experience on your laptop." (emphasis mine)

• While announced in the blog post as “Google Essentials,” the app brands itself “Google essentials” and the app icon lists itself as "Googleessentials”. Furthering the brand miasma, this app appears to have no connection with Google Workspace Essentials.

This whole Essentials experience might raise the question about why this was built in this functionally-limited way, separate from Google’s 2 other app stores: the Play Store, which has support to list but not install PWAs on desktops (nor the ability to list or install native desktop apps other than games through the separate Play Games app) or the Chrome Web Store, which neither lists nor installs PWAs or desktop apps (or even its sibling ChromeOS Get Apps and Games store which lists PWAs and Play apps but is not available to view on PCs or Macs).

Because each of these storefronts is optimized for their specific sub-ecosystems, the larger Google ecosystem has no established mechanism to surface, package, and deliver a collection of products with a similar degree of quality as these on PCs or macOS… leaving such efforts resigned to the backwaters of Google’s exhaustive About page or the smaller side efforts like the Google Essentials app.