Google releases standalone Docs and Sheets (Word and Excel alternatives) apps for Android and iOS

Google has released standalone apps for its office suite: Google Docs (Word alternative), Google Sheets (Excel alternative), and Google Slides (PowerPoint alternative) arrive with offline viewing and editing baked in.

There’s quite a history with Google’s office suite: the company first launched a unified Google Docs package, then rebranded it to Google Drive, mixing it up with full-on cloud storage functionality, and now, by releasing Docs, Sheets, and Slides, it distances them from Drive, leaving the latter appearing as a cloud file management box, similar to say, Dropbox.

With the new Docs, Sheets, and Slides, Google brings more recognition to its office suite

The three apps remain heavily integrated with Drive, of course, but graduating into standalone applications they will get more recognition. Simple fact is that not everyone was aware that Drive actually features a full-on office suite, and that could have been a force driving such a decision.

Slightly confusing, though, remains the fact that Google also still has QuickOffice that offers the same functionality as the original Google Docs, but with a focus on Microsoft Office format support and PDF reading.

It seems that Google has already started a process of clearing up that little mess, though, and Docs, Sheets, and Slides are a good start to that. The apps are clean, with nice color accents - blue for Docs, green for sheets, while Slides is not yet released (it should come very shortly). The apps are free to download and use, and you can get them at the links below.

source: Google blog