My worst tech decision: AG Suite account for personal use

I’m not a gambler, but over the years I’ve come to realize that buying from Google services is a game of Russian roulette. The Google graveyard will confirm the number of Google services that have been phased out over the years, but many other services remain unnecessarily hampered. Case in point – Google Workspace or G Suite as it used to be known, for personal use.

Related: What is Google Workspace and is it worth it?

I’m sure some of you will suggest that I shouldn’t have used Google Workspace as a personal account. However, when I signed up, Google was actively marketing Google Apps and G Suite accounts to individual users and families who wanted their own personal domains. Even today, it’s just not possible to have a regular Gmail account with a custom domain attached to it. As someone without access to a first name and last name Gmail account, I settled on the next best thing – a custom domain. Little did I know it would keep biting me over the years.

My Google Workspace account page says I set up my account sometime around 2009. Suffice to say it was a thirteen year love-hate relationship. Like any relationship that goes through ups and downs, my honeymoon with G Suite lasted a few years when my primary use case revolved around email. Although Gmail for G Suite often got features later than the free Gmail service, these were embellishments at best and didn’t really bother me. The real problems started when Google started rolling out its broader product portfolio.

It was in the summer of 2017 when Google launched Google Pay in India. Called Tez at launch, it was among the early digital payment apps developed to take advantage of India’s unified payments interface. I really wanted to try the app simply because I didn’t trust the alternatives with my financial data. However, my digital payments journey ground to a halt soon enough. No, the app does not support G Suite accounts.

I figured these issues might be because Tez is an exclusive app for India. Fast forward to 2018 when Google introduced Tez to Google Pay. That should have solved the problem, right? That’s a no again. In November 2020 the official Google Pay Twitter account confirmed that support for G Suite accounts will be added in the coming months. It’s now halfway through 2022 and it’s still not possible to use a Google Workspace or G Suite account with Google Pay. However, the problems extend far beyond Google Pay.

When Google introduced the first-generation Google Home speaker in India back in 2018, I was the first to pick up one to expand my growing smart home needs. Setting up the speaker was straightforward, but I quickly discovered that calendars weren’t supported for G Suite accounts. Since quick access to calendars and reminders was one of my most important requirements, the purchase was a letdown for me. Ironically, Amazon’s competing Echo Dot had no trouble tapping into my G Suite-based calendar. How’s that for supporting your own products?

Related: The best third-party Google Assistant speakers to spend your money on

But as it turns out, my troubles with Google’s smart home ecosystem didn’t quite end there. Even today, there is no way to invite family members to your Google Home account if you created that account using a Google Workspace profile. I’ve been searching the admin for a long time to see if there’s a security setting I might have missed, but Google just doesn’t allow it.

It gets even worse if you want to invest in the Nest ecosystem. I recently bought a Nest camera to see how it compares to my Ubiquiti security cameras. I tried unsuccessfully for days to add the camera to my Google Home app before realizing it might be a G Suite limitation. Sure, switching to a regular Gmail account got me going. I understand that Google wants to lock down access for the enhanced security and privacy promised by a business account, but the fact that there’s no way to toggle it at all confuses me. It’s also annoying that nowhere on the box or in the app does Google indicate a lack of support for Workspace accounts.

My list of issues goes on, including services like Google One that are simply not available to Google Workspace users. Likewise, Family Sharing for Google Drive storage, YouTube Premium, or YouTube Music is not accessible to Google Workspace users. I’m not in a supported region, but Stadia is another service that isn’t supported with these accounts.

I am aware that there is a way to export data from Google Workspace and manually import some of it into a regular Gmail account. However, the process is so lengthy and cumbersome that it seems like Google has gone to great lengths to prevent easy migrations. Honestly, I wouldn’t be too surprised if that were the case.

As a paying customer, it makes absolutely no sense for Google to exclude me from an entire ecosystem of products and services just because I’ve been included in a beta service. Tech purchases like phones and tablets are disposable, my online identity is not, and it’s just not possible for me to switch to a regular Gmail account at this point. Most older users have had the custom email address as part of their online identity for almost a decade. Since Gmail doesn’t allow custom domains, your only real option is to migrate communications to another email provider for a decade or more.

And that’s before we talk about any related services like Google Drive, Google Docs or even Google Photos. Or all your purchased apps, books and movies. Or the myriad of services you may have signed up for with your Google login.

Look, locking external functions to protect user privacy in a business space is commendable. However, if I can go to the trouble of setting up a custom domain to use with Google Workspace, I’m totally able to understand the risks involved in toggling these features in the admin panel. Conversely, Google could also offer a basic plan for Gmail users who want to provision a custom domain.

I rarely regret buying into certain ecosystems, but while my G Suite account is one of the most important pillars of my online existence, it’s hands down one of the worst tech decisions I’ve made.