Google acquires photo platform Odysee, could be used to bolster Google+’s photo backup/sharing offerings

In another round of Google acquisitions, the internet search giant has now quietly picked up the folks at Odysee, a photo sharing platform for both Android and iOS. News of the acquisition was made public on Odysee’s site, where the San Joe-based company announced that they would officially be joining up with the Google+ team. Here’s the full statement:

“We are excited to share that the Odysee Platform Team will be joining the Google+ Team.

Odysee’s vision was to be the easiest way for everyone to capture unlimited memories and access them everywhere. We are very excited to join Google where we’ll continue to focus on building amazing products that people love.”

Odysee allowed mobile users to quickly and easily back up their photos and share with others. While this may not sound too different from what Google+ already offers, the main difference was that Odysee also backed up photos/videos to a user’s desktop computer (instead of only the cloud). Sharing was different too, and acted similar to Flickr or Instagram where smaller groups of family or friends could add one another to share photos streams/albums privately. With rumors that Google could soon spin off Photos into a separate service independent from Google+ (like they did with Hangouts), the acquisition is starting to make a lot of sense.

Unlike other apps or services that sometimes go free after being absorbed into Google, Odysee’s entire service is being shut down, with both the Android and iOS apps already removed from the Play Store (as well as the developer account, Nimbuz). Existing users (they are no longer taking sign ups) have until Feb 23rd to continue using the service, after which all backed up photos and videos will be available for download as an archive.

[Odysee]