Google is shutting down Hangouts in November after discontinuing the service for Workspace users in February. It is now migrating Hangouts users to Chat, said Google in an announcement on its blog.
The app users will see a prompt to move to Chat, but those who use Hangouts on Gmail will not start seeing a prompt to switch until July. It will remain usable on the desktop site until November, and users will be warned at least a month before the switch happens.
Do not confuse Chat with the Google Talk to GChat — the OG instant messaging service that Google began with first. It was shut down completely earlier in June. Hangouts was supposed to be its successor, but it did not sit well with the loyalists and failed. The company first hinted at transitioning to Hangouts in 2018 and finally made it available to all users in 2020.
The chats' data backup will automatically transfer to Chat when you switch from Hangouts. Additionally, Google is allowing its users to use the 'Takeout' service, which is basically to download your data before the service goes poof in November.
To make things exciting and attract users, Google is also introducing new features like direct calling, creating in-line threads in Spaces (known as Rooms earlier), viewing and sharing multiple images and more.
First Published: Jun 28, 2022 12:19 PM IST
