After 9 years, Google has decided to end support for its cross-platform IM app, Google Hangouts. Google Hangouts was released in October 2022, and the tech giant is encouraging users to make the transition. Starting today, users of Google’s Hangouts mobile app will receive notifications from the company encouraging them to begin communicating with one another using Gmail’s Chat feature or the standalone Chat app. Users of the Hangouts Chrome extension will also be sent to the Chat website or prompted to download the Chat app. Next month, users using Hangouts on Gmail on the web will be upgraded to Chat in Gmail.
Launched in 2013, Google Hangouts will be shut down in November of this year, and before that, the company requests that users save any relevant information. The company has stated that for the vast majority of users, their conversations will be transferred automatically from Hangouts to Chat, but has urged those “who wish to keep a copy of their Hangouts data to use Google Takeout to download their data before Hangouts is no longer available in November.”
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Google also announced that web-based Hangouts will remain accessible until the end of the year. We hope you’ll all make the move to Chat, but Hangouts on the web will remain available until later this year. As the tech giant said in a blog post, users will receive a warning at least a month before Hangouts on the web begins automatically diverting to Chat on the web.
Improved from its predecessor, Hangouts, Google Chat adds several useful functions, such as the ability to edit Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets in a collaborative fashion. Spaces is a feature that allows users to work together on certain projects. Teams and groups may now communicate and collaborate on projects, files, and assignments all from within a chat room.
Direct calling, in-line threading in Spaces, and the ability to share and see multiple photos are just a few examples of the kinds of things that Google plans to add to Chat in the coming months, as the company explained in a blog post. Users “will appreciate our continuous commitment in making Chat a strong space to create and collaborate,” the business said.
