Google Hangouts is officially closing for good
RIP Google Hangouts, as Chat takes over
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One of the most influential names inchat softwareis bidding farewell asGoogleHangouts begins its final goodbye.
The company hasconfirmedthat from November 1, 2022, Hangouts on the web will no longer be available for users as it looks to modernize itsGoogle Workspacesuite to be as effective for users as possible.
Instead, users will now be directed toGoogle Chatas the company looks to continue the transition to its more unified instant messaging service.
Goodbye Google Hangouts
Users looking to access the Hangouts website will now see a message stating, “Starting November 1, 2022, Hangouts on the web will redirect to Chat on Web. We recommend moving to Chat now.”
The news is the final nail in the coffin for Google Hangouts followingthe initial announcement of its retirementin 2020.
TheAndroid and iOS appswere shut down in July 2022, with the oficial Hangouts Chrome extension also closed shortly after.
Google says that although most messages and contacts should be moved to the new service, some conversations or portions of conversations won’t automatically migrate from Hangouts to Chat, although affected users should already have been contacted.
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Users can continue to use Google’s Takeout service to download their Hangouts data until January 1, 2023.
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The company first began “upgrading” enterprise and business users on “Classic Hangouts” to Google Chat in March 2022. Mobile users started seeing in-app alerts tomove onto Chat in Gmail or the Chat appin June, with web users upgraded in July.
“Google Chat offers a modern and integrated experience in Google Workspace. We have big ambitions for the future of Chat, and over the coming months you’ll see even more features like direct calling, in-line threading in Spaces and the ability to share and view multiple images,” wrote Ravi Kanneganti, Product Manager, Google Chat at the time.
“As we take this final step to bring remaining Hangouts users to Chat, we hope users will appreciate our continued investment in making Chat a powerful place to create and collaborate.”
ViaTechCrunch
Mike Moore is Deputy Editor at TechRadar Pro. He has worked as a B2B and B2C tech journalist for nearly a decade, including at one of the UK’s leading national newspapers and fellow Future title ITProPortal, and when he’s not keeping track of all the latest enterprise and workplace trends, can most likely be found watching, following or taking part in some kind of sport.
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