Google is killing the Hangouts Chat app

Over the years, in a bid to grab some of the success Facebook and WhatsApp have enjoyed, Google has unleashed a wide variety of social networks and chat apps. Many of them, however, such as the likes of Google+ and Google Duo, are no longer here. It now looks like another of Google’s communication apps is destined for the scrapheap as the internet search giant has announced that Google Hangouts is on the way out. Let’s explore the story a little further.

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For starters, Google isn’t calling this discontinuation of Google Hangouts but rather an upgrade. This is because Google is pushing Google Hangouts users towards towards Google Chat instead, complete with what Google calls its modern features and better integration with other Google Workspace apps and products.

In the detailed blog post announcing the move, Google said that the move was about offering a better way to collaborate. The blog post states:

“Moving to Google Chat opens up new and better ways to connect and collaborate. For example, users can edit Docs, Slides or Sheets with side-by-side editing, making it easier to collaborate while continuing the conversation.”

So, what does this mean? Does it mean that Google Hangouts is another failed messaging and communication app from Google? Well, not exactly. In fact, there are still plenty of Gmail users who are happily texting and chatting with their friends via Google Hangouts. If you are one of these faithful Google Hangouts users, then the news is that Google Hangouts will continue to be usable until November 2022.

Even then, however, the news isn’t all bad as Google has confirmed that it will warn users at least one month in advance of Hangouts going offline and that all existing Hangouts conversations will safely move across to Google Chat before Hangouts gets the chop.

As well as the post announcing the move from Hangouts to Chat, Google has also put together a factsheet that goes through the migration process in detail as well as laying out all the differences that exist between the two apps. To ne fair, they are pretty similar, but Google Chat is the superior app, which is why Google is choosing to stick with it over Hangouts. You can access that factsheet here.

If you are a cybersecurity-conscious person then you will be happy with this news as Google has recently moved to help protect Google Chat users from phishing attacks.