[3][4] As of October 17, 2007[update], Google had made the service available in many localized versions in 42 languages, and in over 70 country domain-names.

On July 8, 2008, Google announced the beginning of a testing period for a new version of iGoogle which altered some features, including replacing the tabs with left navigation, adding chat functionality, and a canvas-view gadget for RSS.

[10] On October 16, 2008, Google announced the release of a new version of iGoogle and retired its older format.

A workaround to restore the original tab layout was found by attaching "?gl=all" to the end of the iGoogle URL.

Changing the URL ending to "?hl=all" would again restore the original tab layout, with some missing links across the top of the home page, including "Maps" and "more".

Within hours, the most frequently asked question on the help forum was how to restore the old layout, and there was a large number of feature suggestions to the same effect on the Google product ideas page.

[15][16] On July 3, 2012, Google announced on its blog that several of its services, including iGoogle, would be retired due to "the unforeseen evolution of web and mobile apps and the erosion of the need for the site."

[17] A later feature in 2022 tested a revised Google.com home page with customizable widgets at the bottom of the screen, this was compared to iGoogle.