The Google Advanced Technology and Projects division, more commonly referred to as ATAP, has been responsible for a handful of flashy shows with the Soli radio system and the wardrobe-focused Jacquard being two of them. Both were announced in 2015 and hit the markets a few years later, with Jacquard giving us some of the most unexpected collaborations, including with clothing manufacturer Levi’s and luxury fashion brand Yves Saint Laurent – the first bringing us some trendy smart tracking equipped jackets. , while Adidas launched Jacquard labels meant for the insoles of football boots. But after remaining relatively quiet since these partnerships — aside from the 2019 release of two new Jacquard/Levi’s jackets — it appears the end is nigh for the project and the corresponding accompanying program.
The latest iteration of the Jacquard app for Android almost spells the end of the project. Even if you don’t have the app, it doesn’t seem to be a secret with the what’s new section on the Play Store stating thus:
This release adds the ability to notify users of updates to product support in the future.
Additionally, opening the app with internet disabled returns the page pictured below, while 9to5Google found terminal references, including an AppShutdown header, within the app’s code. All this points to an imminent announcement by Google about the death of Jacquard.
It’s not entirely clear what will happen to customers who bought Jacquard-backed jackets or backpacks while the companion app is grazing. One Jacquard product, the aforementioned Adidas smart insole for athletes, has a separate app that was updated a month ago, but even its future is now uncertain after this revelation.
Project Jacquard, while less intimidating than Google Glass, probably had about as much appeal to the buying public. The feature set was decent, including the ability to be notified by the jacket when you leave your phone behind or control music on the phone with a gesture on the jacket. But Jacquard doesn’t seem to have caught on like some wanted and it doesn’t help that Google has been in a cutthroat mood lately on anything that isn’t AI, like with Stadia.