Google Drive

Google Drive

The web version of Google Drive
Type of site	File hosting service
Owner	Google
Website	www.google.com/drive/
Registration	Required
Users	240 million (October 2014)
Launched	April 24, 2012; 4 years ago (2012-04-24)

Google Drive

Google Drive's Android app
Stable release(s)
Windows 1.32.4066.7445 / December 6, 2016; 2 months ago (2016-12-06) Android 2.7.063.14 / March 2, 2017; 6 days ago (2017-03-02) iOS 4.2017.05216 / March 3, 2017; 5 days ago (2017-03-03)
Written in	Python (back-end), Objective-C (Mac client), wxPython (Windows client)
Operating system	Windows, macOS, Chrome OS, Android, iOS
License	Freeware
Website	www.google.com/drive/

Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service operated by Google. It allows users to store files in the cloud, synchronize files across devices, and share files. Google Drive encompasses Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, an office suite that permits collaborative editing of documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, forms, and more.

Google Drive offers users 15 GB of free storage. More storage is offered through optional paid plans between 100 GB and 30 TB.

Google Drive was launched on April 24, 2012, and had 240 million monthly active users in October 2014. Google said in September 2015 that they had over one million organizational paying users of Google Drive.

For Google Drive to synchronize files between the user's device and Google Drive storage, the Google Drive software application must be running on the user's device. The software communicates with Google Drive to synchronize data.

Google Drive is available for PCs running Windows Vista or later, and Macs running OS X Lion or later.

Google indicated in April 2012 that work on Linux software was underway, but there was no news on this as of November 2013.

In April 2012, Google's then-Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai said that Google Drive would be tightly integrated with Chrome OS version 20.

In October 2016, Google announced that versions 1.27 and earlier of the Drive computer software will be discontinued and sync will stop on February 1, 2017. Going forward after that date, Google will drop support for versions of the software older than 1 year.

Later in October 2016, Google announced that starting January 1, 2017, the computer software would end support for Windows versions XP and Vista. The software will continue to work on those platforms, but will not be actively tested and maintained.