Google's News app had always  supported print-replica magazines for subscribers. These were essentially PDF files that retained the original layout and experience of reading a physical magazine,  on a smart  phone or tablet. Users of the Google News could subscribe for a fee and have them delivered directly to their devices.

Now Google is stopping this digital subscription services to its subscribers by sending out an email. Active users will get all subscriptions canceled, and the company will refund any payments that have already been made.

Android Police reported that Google sent an email to current magazine subscribers to inform them of the change, effective immediately. While it won’t be offering print layout pages via Google News any longer, Google suggested that readers could still visit a magazine’s website, which perhaps they are already doing since it’s 2020.

“Publishers can continue selling content on Google News in the form of pay walled RSS-based publications — it is only the support for the sale of discrete digital files that is changing,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

Google first launched its Play Magazines App back in 2012, which was then folded into Newsstand, before being dumped into Google News. The idea of the magazine replicas was to give publishers control over how their articles were presented and viewed online, retaining the print look and feel.

But while Apple’s tablet became a popular destination for digital magazines, fewer than 200 pubs ever took part in Google’s magazine program, according to the company. The product was available on the Google News app for Android and also on desktop via Google News.

The magazine section was not seen in the Play Store for about a year. Subscribers can continue to access previously purchased issues via the Google News app, but they won’t be able to purchase new subscriptions. Even Apple discontinued its digital magazine storefront, the Newsstand app, back in 2015 and eventually restored its digital magazine platform as part of Apple News Plus .Most magazines on iOS are now accessed through individual apps anyway, rather than through a central repository.

Print replica magazines didn't offer an optimal experience on smartphones, especially with the range of display sizes. You can't reflow the content, and there's little integration with OS features like translation and quick searching. Combine this with the domination of digital publications — of which many print magazines double as anyway —and it makes sense for Google to cut it down.