Hangouts Will Shut Down This Fall as Google Moves People to Chat (2024)

Google Hangouts is officially shutting down in November. The search giant is prompting people still using Hangouts to migrate over to Chat as part of its plan to retire the aging messaging platform, the company said in a blog post Monday. Google already transitioned enterprise usersearlier this year.

On the Hangouts mobile app, people are being asked to switch to Chat. For those using Hangouts on Gmail through a web browser, Google said it will upgrade people to Chat next month. For most, conversations will automatically be migrated over from Hangouts to Chat, Google said.

Google is also encouraging users to use Google Takeout, the company's data exportation tool, to download their data before Hangouts ceases operation this November.

Google Hangouts, which launched in 2013, was the company's chat platform inside Google Plus, a now-defunct social network. Google then added chat functionality to other products, such as Gmail. In 2017, Google launched Chat, a messaging tool for enterprise customers. Chat brought with it new features such as group conversations, side-by-side editing in Docs, Slides and Sheets, and communication within Spaces, the company's collaboration tool.

Google is moving people from Hangouts to Chat for reasons that include security and regulations.

Chat offers stronger phishing protections by detecting malicious links using real-time data, the company said in a 2020 blog post. US and EU regulationswould also make VoIP services subject to the same laws. It's why Google removed the call phone feature from Hangouts and issued refunds for remaining call credits. Plus, having engineers work on one chat app as opposed to two could be a better allocation of resources.

Hangouts Will Shut Down This Fall as Google Moves People to Chat (2024)

FAQs

Hangouts Will Shut Down This Fall as Google Moves People to Chat? ›

Hangouts shut down in November 2022. You should have seen a notice when you used Hangouts. Most Hangouts conversations were migrated from Hangouts to Google Chat

Google Chat
Google Chat is an intelligent and secure communication and collaboration tool, built for teams. From ad-hoc messaging to topic-based workstream collaboration, Chat makes it easy to get work done where the conversation is happening.
https://play.google.com › store › apps › details › id=com.goog...
.

Why is Google discontinuing Hangouts? ›

Google Hangouts was a popular messaging app that was discontinued in November 2022. There are a few reasons why it fell out of favor: It was not as user-friendly as other messaging apps.

Is Google Chat replacing hangout? ›

Google services that don't exist anymore

Google Hangouts was Google's free messaging and video chat service. It was replaced by Google Chat and Google Meet. Google Hangouts Chat was Google's paid team chat service for users with a Google Workspace account. It's now just called Google Chat.

Can you recover deleted Google Hangout messages? ›

This means, chat messages once deleted, cannot be retrieved later. Thanks for your question.

How long does Google Hangout last? ›

On a computer, you can host: One-on-one calls for up to 24 hours. Calls with 3 or more participants for up to 60 minutes.

Will Google bring back Hangouts? ›

Hangouts shut down in November 2022. You should have seen a notice when you used Hangouts. Most Hangouts conversations were migrated from Hangouts to Google Chat.

What replaced Hangouts? ›

Finally, in 2019, Google announced that G Suite users would no longer have Hangouts but “Meet” and “Chat” apps. As a reaction to the 2020 global pandemic, Google Meet became available for all users, and Google Chat replaced Hangouts in 2022.

What is not allowed on Google Chat? ›

Do not use Chat for phishing, including: Asking for or collecting sensitive data, including but not limited to passwords, financial details, and Social Security numbers. Using Chat to trick, mislead, or deceive other users into sharing information under false pretenses.

Why would someone use Google Chat? ›

Google Chat, formerly known as “Google Hangouts”, is a chat-based messaging app that gives businesses and regular users a space to collaborate and catch up for free. The app is wildly popular, boasting over 10 million downloads on Google Play alone.

What's the difference between Hangouts and Hangouts chat? ›

Google Chat was called Hangouts Chat and worked as a more business-oriented version of the consumer Hangouts. Google Chat expands on the features of the standard version of Hangouts by adding a plethora of team collaboration features and integrations.

Are Google chats permanently deleted? ›

After you (or other members in a conversation) delete a message, the message is permanently removed from your Google Account and can't be recovered. You can download previously edited messages from your Google Account.

What happens when you delete a hangout conversation? ›

Delete conversation—Permanently deletes your copy of a conversation's history.

Can you see deleted messages on Google messages? ›

Google Messages doesn't have a trash bin. When you delete a message, you lose it permanently. However, it's possible you accidentally archived the texts.

Can a Google Meet be recorded? ›

On your computer, in Google Meet, click Start or Join. Recording. To record the meeting captions, select a language. In some cases, if the recording is played on Google Drive, the recording file might be ready a few hours before the captions are available.

Can I delete Google Hangouts? ›

If Hangouts is preinstalled on your device, you can't delete the app. If you don't want to use Hangouts, sign out and use another messaging app.

Does Google Chat have a time limit? ›

Anyone with a Google Account can create a video meeting, invite up to 100 participants, and meet for up to 60 minutes per meeting at no cost. For mobile calls and 1:1s, there's no time limit.

Is Google Chat and Google Hangouts the same thing? ›

As a result, Google Chat is something like the evolution of Hangouts. It grants that same one-on-one communication but expands on it to be more effective in a business setting. Important features available in Hangouts like read receipts, video and audio conferencing, and image sharing are all available through Chat.

Does Google Talk still exist? ›

The Google Talk App for Android and the Google Chat tool in Gmail were discontinued on June 26, 2017, and no longer functioned. Users could still continue to use third-party XMPP clients to connect to the legacy Google talk server, but only for 1-on-1 chat with Hangouts users.

When did Hangouts change to Google Chat? ›

It was first launched as Hangouts Chat on March 9, 2017, as one of the two apps to constitute the replacement for Google Hangouts, the other being Google Meet. It was renamed to Google Chat on April 9, 2020.

Is Google Allo still working? ›

Google Allo was an instant messaging mobile app by Google for the Android and iOS mobile operating systems, with a web client available in some web browsers. It closed on March 12, 2019.

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