Bidding Goodbye to Drivr Plugin

Goodbyes are always difficult. Especially so when it comes to a plugin where hundreds of users are likely to be affected by such a situation. But if the consequences are minimal, then maybe it’s time to finally move on.

Drivr – Google Drive Plugin

Drivr helps you to access docs and files from Google Drive account and add them straight to the WordPress website securely and safely. It uses Google Picker API – the most recommended and seamless method to access your Google Drive files and is integrated seamlessly into the post editor. 

What made ‘Drivr’ plugin different from other google drive plugins is the way it handles various kinds of files. It supports all file types, provides options to add files as plain links and have options to change image size and dimensions. It also helps you to search and embed videos from youtube.

Due to all these good features, we got a good response from the users initially. But as time progressed we realized the plugin did not have much scope in terms of features or customizability.

Causes of our concern

We have been using Google Drive Picker API to integrate the Google Drive option to WordPress. But soon we realised that most of our potential users require way more control over their Google Drive and files hosted in their Drive than the API allows and the limitations ended up being a reason of disappointment for them. The limitations attracted some negative reviews also for the plugin.

Then there wasn’t much demand for Drivr. The Pro plugin released on July 30, 2016 had only 230 downloads till September 2020. Compared to how our other plugins were performing, this was depressing.

Despite the low demand, we had to dedicate a lot of our time to maintain the plugin. Google made changes in its APIs and the Google Cloud interface pretty frequently. Keeping up with those changes and updating the plugin and documentation were tiring. 

Finally, after careful deliberation and months of analysis of purchase and usage patterns and comparing it with our other projects, we’ve finally decided it is time to discontinue the Drivr plugin.

Impact on users

Users will not be able to purchase a new license or renew their existing ones.

230 users may a very small number of a product, especially for a WordPress plugin. But we do care for each one of them. We will continue to provide support for all the existing customers an extra one year until the validity of their support license expires. We will solve any issues they are facing with the plugin and continue to fix bugs if they find anything. But, we won’t be rolling out any more updates.

If you are a customer who purchased a license between 01 October 2019 and 01 October 2020 and wishes to get a refund, please open a request in CodeCanyon.

The plugin will continue to work as it is now unless and until another Google update breaks it (which unfortunately is not in our control).  

Meanwhile, you can check out these alternatives:

• Image and video gallery from Google Drive – to connect your site to your Google Drive. It displays any Google Drive folder as a gallery.
• External Media – to import files from or create external links from third-party services (Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, Google Drive and any other external file from URL)

Please note that these are just our suggestions and we are not responsible for them. 

Future Plans

No, we are not bored with WordPress. Our fascination with WordPress is stronger than ever and we will continue to mark our presence in the WP ecology. We are just letting go of Drivr, painful though it is. We will continue to develop plugins and themes for the WordPress community. If you have any concerns please post your comments below or reach out to us in hello@awsm.in