Discover feed missing for Google Workspace Starter?

[RP]

Hi all,

Recently I have set up my new Workspace Starter subscription and Google account. I noticed that the Discover feed functionality is no longer working.

In my previous Workspace Starter subscription this functionality was available. 

I spoke to Google support and they say this functionality isn't available anymore for Workspace Starter accounts, and the reason it was available under my old account is because I started that when it still was G Suite basic instead of Workspace Starter. 

So after diving a bit deeper into this: In order to use Google Discover, you must set Allow Google Assistant for iOS and Android to ON. This setting is managed inside Google Workspace's Endpoint Management service. Ironically, accessing the setting requires enabling advanced mobile management. Which... is not available in Business Starter and Standard, Essentials, or Cloud Identity Free.

My question/suggestion: Please re-enable this functionality for Workspace Starter. The Discover feed was always available for G Suite Basic and now I'd have to pay over double to regain the same functionality?

[StephenHind]

@RP Google has done this deliberately to entice you to spend more money. Google's not going to back down from that I believe.

[RP]

That was the only reason I could think of too. I won't be paying triple the monthly fee for functionality I used to get for free though. Instead, if no solution is provided in the coming weeks, I'll more likely cancel my Workspace plans and move my Office suite elsewhere and just use personal Google accounts with external addresses.

[Youssef]

Ok

[Artur_M]

I have exactly the same problem after migrating from G Suite to Business Starter.

[RSKelley]

I too have now stumbled into this situation.  As one of the prior commenters pointed out, requiring an account that costs 3X the base account just to get a feature that's free is a difficult proposition at best.  I have been an advocate for Google products to clients, co-workers and associates, but this is beginning to make me rethink my strategy.

I'm more than a bit confused why adding a feature that is FREE in the base Google/Gmail account could do anything other than engender goodwill within the community.

[RP]

I have found a solution for this: I have upgraded to business plus, enabled the google assistant in mobile settings and then immediately downgraded again. This kept the discover feed available. 

[dvicente]

This is it! You just solved this issue after three months of Google support just now knowing what I'm after. Thank you so much!

[JimHQ]

That's more like a workaround, and less like a solution 🙂

[akihiro]

If I temporarily upgrade the plan to Business Plus, and turn on that mobile option, and then switch back to Business Starter, my current special discount will not reapply, right?

[Eric_b]

I would like to know this also. I don't mind upgrading then downgrading. But i would rather keep my promotional pricing if i can.

[siliconmeadow]

That's right. I just found out the hard way.

[JimHQ]

Looks like Google Product team didn't consider the ramifications of sticking this feature control behind advanced endpoint configuration. In the meantime you can get the display back by using discover without an account and the news feed will reappear. However, If google want's me to stop using their news panel that's fine, I'll stick with the Reuters app.

[bornlucky]

I like the easy access of the Discover panel. After a week without it on my phone, I still instinctively swipe for it. It now feels like I don't own my hardware.

[JimHQ]

https://www.repair.org/stand-up

[bornlucky]

With respect, I don't think this applies. I've unfortunately chosen to irrevocably  tether my account to a plan with no way of knowing that it would hamper features on my phone. The problem isn't right-to-repair, it's truth in advertising.

[bornlucky]

I just got off a very long, frustrating chat with a support rep on this topic, and it's like a chapter from Alice in Wonderland.

Google's perspective, via a rep named Cesar, is that they have some core services that are not mentioned specifically in any of their documentation about the Google Workspace offering. Since they're "core", they're not features per se (his exact words). The features in the "Additional Google Services", one of which being "Search and Assistant", are non-core features that just have on/off options. These non-core features are subject to management by the core features, and the core features vary based on the Workplace plan.

There's no documentation of existence, functionality, or pricing of the core feature access levels unless you know find the detail on the core features, but the core features aren't identified in any discoverable documentation because they're core features. The presence/access of core features limits the accessibility to non-core features, but there's no way of knowing how until you know whether they exist.

Confused yet? If your mind is aflutter, here's a breakdown based on the conversation:

• "Mobile App Management" is the core feature that's not mentioned in the Workplace account tier comparison docs or anywhere else without looking it up by name
• "Search and Assistant" is a non-core feature that an account admin can activate/de-activate
• Assistant features are configured via a Business Plus tier feature in "Mobile App Management"
• The Discover news feed can only be activated by the Business Plus tier feature in "Mobile App Management"
• There is no way for an incoming user to know this (according to Cesar) because core features are not itemized in Workplace documentation
• The only solution is to upgrade to the Business Plus tier ($18/user/mo, 3x price over Business Starter)

[bornlucky]

Good news via Reddit, from someone who seems to be honestly portraying as a Google employee: https://www.reddit.com/r/gsuite/comments/sd9p3t/comment/hug9nwq

[Penelope]

That may be a real announcement, bornlucky, since today on my own, I found a note about the Discover missing inside of an article about G Suite Legacy: https://support.google.com/a/answer/2855120?hl=en. And it does say "Known issue: Discover is not currently available for Business Starter or Business Standard. We're working on a fix to roll out in the coming weeks." 

[bornlucky]

I hadn't seen that, awesome. Hopefully, "coming weeks" is more February than July.

[Penelope]

Thank you for finding the Reddit note! I have been keeping track of this particular thread for a couple of weeks since I have been keeping an eye on https://support.google.com/websearch/thread/121610237/discover-doesn-t-work-for-google-workspace-acc... . And yes, hopefully the coming weeks is sooner rather than later! 

[bornlucky]

This has been resolved, at least for me and my children's devices. The instructions on the fix, quoted from Google support, are below. After the sign-in, the app froze for more than a minute and refreshed with the account-specific content.

I can see that we need to turn on Google Assistant in admin console for Discovery feature to work, Discovery feature is merged with Google Assistant now and hence it comes under Google Assistant, to turn on Google Assistant please login to your Admin console > Devices > Mobile & end points > Settings > Universal settings > Data access > Google Assistant "Enable Google Assistant Checkbox" > save (Bottom right corner)

...

Please check and let me know if that is working, also I would suggest you to restart the feature (Sign-in and Sign-out) and check if its working. 

[Artur_M]

I confirm. Fix works.

[kossmann]

I can confirm, too... but wasn't this setting always there and it didn't work even though it was turned on?

[Penelope]

Thanks for letting us know! I passed along the info to some other users who were wondering about this exact issue. 

[jsanford]

This solution worked immediately.

[HoracioO]

that was painfull!!!

it took me a while to find this post with the solution. Thanks  for posting this.

What on earth is google thinking by disabling this option by default?

[Bigg206]

That worked for me 

[funkyblue]

Yeah, i thought mine was on, but it was off. Working now. I'm shocked Google actually listened and fixed something!

[Nemmaf]

Does anyone have an update on this? I did everything described above, but I still receive an error that my workspace admin (me) would have to allow this (Discovery is not available on this account).

I'm a bit frustrated...

[Penelope]

If that is the case, then let your one on one support know about this. 

[funkyblue]

Contact Google Workspace support direct. This issue has been resolved, so something in your account is the problem.