Hangouts App Closes in November 2022, GOOGLE Asks Users to Switch to Chat

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Google finally stopped the activity of the Hangouts messaging service before it officially shut down in November. The news was announced by the company on Monday, June 27, 2022.

Mobile app users will see a pop-up asking them to move their conversation to Google Chat, which is currently Google's flagship service.

The Google service can be accessed via Gmail as well as its own standalone app. Next month, conversations on the web version of Hangouts will switch to Chat in Gmail.

Google advises users to download data using Google Takeout if they want to save it before Hangouts is no longer available in November 2022.

"Moving to Google Chat opens up new and better ways to connect and collaborate," product manager Ravi Kanneganti said in a blog post.

“For example, users can edit documents, slides, or spreadsheets with side-by-side editing, making it easier to collaborate while continuing the conversation.”

"Google Chat also includes Spaces, a dedicated place for topic-based collaboration. Groups and teams can share ideas, work on documents, and manage files and tasks, all from one location. And, the new integrated view in Gmail makes it easier to use Chat alongside your Gmail inbox. , Spaces and Meets."

Search giant Google is indeed working to combine various services, from Google Chat to Google Docs and Meet, into a single platform for Gmail users. They are also available to Google Workspace enterprise customers, which support accounts with custom email addresses and cloud features.

Google Hangouts was designed as an instant messaging app that runs across multiple platforms for the now-defunct Google+ social network.

In 2013, Hangouts was released as a separate app. But Hangouts failed to gain much traction compared to WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram.

Google started moving Workspace customers to Meet and Chat from Hangouts in 2020. Gmail users were also asked to transition last year before Hangouts was discontinued forever.

Chat will be Google's dominant messaging platform for the foreseeable future. Google says it will integrate more features, allowing users to make direct calls, start inline threads in Spaces, and view multiple images.