Google+ is now a core Google Apps for Work service

Watson Williams

18:43:00

Starting today, Google+ is now a core Google Apps for Work service when used within a domain, and will be included in existing Google Apps agreements for most customers. This means that Google+ will have the same technical support and service level commitments as any other core service, like Gmail or Google Drive.

Going forward, domains using Google+ will receive the following benefits:

Domain-restricted content and activity will be handled as specified in your Google Apps agreement
Google+ will be compliant with the terms, conditions and service levels defined in the Google Apps Technical Support Services Guidelines and the Google Apps Service Level Agreement
Google+ will be added as a monitored service to the Apps Service Dashboard (ASD)
In the coming days, Google+ will be removed from the list of Additional Google Services and added to the list of Google Apps services in the Admin console

To provide a service that is consistent with the protections of our Google Apps agreement, the following changes will affect your domain’s current use of Google+:

All web users on a computer will be automatically upgraded to the latest version of Google+, and will no longer have the option to switch back to the "classic" version
Native mobile app versions of Google+ released prior to today’s launch will no longer be fully supported, so users should ensure they have upgraded to the latest versions.

Engaging people is key to innovation, and many Google Apps for Work domains have found Google+ to be an invaluable tool that helps drive active engagement and cultivate innovative ideas from all levels of the organization. By making Google+ the newest core service for Google Apps, Google+ will now provide the support and guaranteed SLAs that businesses need.

Notes:

We will be updating several default settings for new domains going forward to help make content less publicly visible. These settings will not be changed for existing domains, but we recommend that you review them:
- Help Center: Set the default for profile discoverability
- - Recommended setting: disabled/unchecked
- Help Center: Set a default sharing restriction for Google+ content
- - Recommended setting: domain-restricted
- Help Center: Enable or disable Google+ profile name changes
- - Recommended setting: disabled/unchecked
While Google Apps for Education domains will also receive the Google+ product changes outlined above, Google+ will remain a non-core service for these domains.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end-users for domains with Google+ enabled

Action:
Change management suggested

More Information
Recommended for admins:

Recommended for users: