Google Search: A useful search feature has been removed, and for a reason

A company executive explains

A “trick” of Google Search that you may not have known is that you can use it as a timer or rather… you could .

Going into detail, until recently, with a simple search for ’10 minute timer’ or other related phrases, Google Search would return a special widget, which would start counting down exactly as the user requested. Admittedly it was a very convenient feature, especially for those who have Google as their online “home”, before visiting any other page.

The strange thing about the case, as noticed and expressed by many on social media, is that from July 20 this function was removed from Google Search, with the company not giving any explanation. Now, nearly two weeks later, the company’s top executive, Danny Sullivan, has finally publicly acknowledged the feature’s retirement.

Sullivan said the reason was a technical problem , but did not reveal more about the nature of the problem. Of course, the good news for those who have been using Google’s built-in countdown is that the feature will be returning to the search engine in the near future.

For the record, Sullivan stated:

The “why” is that there is a problem, which we are looking at. We expect the feature to return relatively soon.