The Area 120 incubator of Google was launched in an app known as Rivet in Beta in the year 2018 as a ‘fun and supportive reading app for kids’. It exited beta on Android and iOS in May 2019 and has grown up to be one of the most loved teach-your-kids-to-read app on the Play Store. However, Google recently said that they are shutting down the app.
The Rivet mobile and web apps would be shut down from 15th October, 2020 and data linked with Rivet would be deleted by 13th November. At this point, it can’t be said clearly regarding other alternatives for parents who mostly depend on this app. According to Google, Rivet is “moving to the Google Assistant”. They are not sure if there will be a new Rivet experience built for Google Assistant or its just a way to tell people “use the ‘Hey Google, read a kids story’ feature instead”.
Google is definitely killing the educational reading joy of many children in this matter. Even a review on the Play Store by a kid using this app stated that the app helps to read and pick a cute character and a reading level or category. It helps to say the word right and says how long the child has been reading.