Motorola has been releasing interesting products, some of them are more affordable than its competitors and some others integrate new and exclusive technologies, like the Droid Turbo 2, which includes the first shatterproof display thanks to Moto ShatterShield technology. The company is even displaying those products in a retail store in Chicago. Since Motorola uses a very light custom skin over the Android operating system, they are able to update their devices faster than other companies. They usually deliver a stock-like Android interface and they include a few apps or services to complement that experience. With the list of the phones that would get Android 6.0 Marshmallow and the changes included in this update, the company communicated that a few features will no longer be available as they seemed a little redundant.
Moto Assist is one of the apps that will disappear with the new software, as users can find similar “do not disturb” options in the Sound and notification settings. Another app that won’t be available is Motorola Migrate because Android Marshmallow has an improved system to backup user information. Finally, a Chrome Extension called Motorola Connect will also be removed. This extension allowed users to send and receive texts and MMS from the browser, and it would notify them whenever they got a call and interact with those notifications. Users could make their phone ring from the browser in order to find it and they could see some of their phone’s information like battery life and wireless connectivity signal. The extension was compatible with the first and second generation of Moto X as well as with the Droid Ultra and Droid Turbo models.
It wasn’t clear when those apps and services would stop receiving support, but this week, some users of the Motorola Connect Chrome Extension started seeing a message that read “The Motorola Connect Chrome Extension will be retired in November 2015. Alternate solutions in the Google Play Store that consumers have found useful include MightyText and Pushbullet”. So those who are still using this extension have a little over two weeks before it gets shut down, they better get used to one of the recommended alternatives or find another one they like, they might even get more functionality from other extensions.