Socratic by Google
by Google
Socratic was a mobile learning app that let students photograph or type homework questions to find explanations, videos, and web resources. Google acquired its developer in 2018 and later discontinued the app.
Reason for Shutdown
Google's Socratic support page states that the app was discontinued on September 30, 2024. Its former homepage now redirects to that notice.
💵 Pricing & access
- Pricing model
- Not documented
- Starting at
- No longer sold
- Official site
- Visit Socratic by Google →
🩺 Health Signals
- HTTP Status
- 200
- Response
- —
- SSL
- —
- Confidence
- 99%
- Domain expires
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- Last content change
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- Last tweet
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- API status
- —
📅 Timeline
Socratic founded
Chris Pedregal and Shreyans Bhansali founded Socratic as an education technology company. The exact public launch day is not clearly documented, so the date represents the known founding year.
Google acquisition completed
Google acquired Socratic in March 2018. Socratic subsequently continued developing its homework-help product within Google.
Google relaunches Socratic
Google announced an updated iOS app using AI to help students find explanations and learning resources, with support for high-school subjects and an Android release planned.
Android app released
Google announced that the redesigned Socratic app was available on Android, expanding access beyond the iOS version released in 2019.
Socratic discontinued
Google discontinued the Socratic app and directed users to alternative Google learning resources, including Lens and Search.
🔄 Alternatives to Socratic by Google
ChatGPT
🟢ActiveOpenAI's conversational AI assistant that sparked the generative AI revolution.
Bard / Gemini
🟢ActiveGoogle's AI assistant, originally Bard, rebranded to Gemini with multimodal capabilities.
Perplexity AI
🟢ActiveAI-powered answer engine that provides cited, real-time answers to complex questions.
You.com
🟢ActiveAI search engine offering summarized answers with source citations and app integrations.
📰 Related Articles
🪦 Other dead Education tools
Fishtree
🟡Acquired / MergedFishtree was an adaptive learning platform for K–12 schools that helped educators plan lessons, curate resources, assign work, and personalize instruction using learner data and recommendation technology.
Gradescope
🟡Acquired / MergedGradescope is an assessment and grading platform for paper, digital, and programming assignments. It helps instructors organize submissions, apply rubric-based grading, return feedback, and analyze question-level results.
Photomath
🟡Acquired / MergedPhotomath is a mobile math-learning app that scans printed or handwritten problems with a device camera and presents solutions with step-by-step explanations across multiple math topics.
Quizlet Q-Chat
🔴Shutdown / DeadQuizlet Q-Chat was an AI tutoring feature that used a conversational interface to quiz learners, explain concepts, and guide study sessions using material available through Quizlet.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What was Socratic by Google?
Socratic was a free homework-help app for iOS and Android. Students could photograph, speak, or type a question and receive explanations, videos, and relevant web resources across subjects such as algebra, geometry, biology, chemistry, physics, history, and literature.
Is Socratic by Google still available?
No. Google discontinued the Socratic app on September 30, 2024. The former Socratic website now points visitors to Google's discontinuation notice and suggests other Google tools.
Why did Google shut down Socratic?
Google confirmed the discontinuation but did not give a detailed public reason in its support notice. It recommended Google Lens and Google Search for visual and homework-related queries.
When did Google acquire Socratic?
Google acquired Socratic in March 2018. The company later relaunched the app under Google branding in August 2019 and released the redesigned Android version in February 2020.
What are the best alternatives to Socratic by Google?
Current general-purpose alternatives include Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity AI, and You.com. They can explain concepts and answer study questions, though their features and educational safeguards differ from Socratic's homework-focused experience.