Google has laid Hangouts to relaxation, a few years after it first introduced that it was going to push individuals to make use of Chat, its Slack-like app, as a substitute. After permitting customers to maneuver to Chat on their very own in 2021, Google phased out the Hangouts Chat app for Android and iOS in July. Users had been proven a immediate telling them that “Hangouts has been replaced by Google Chat” and to modify to both the standalone Chat app or the Chat expertise inside Gmail. As TechCrunch notes, the final model of the messaging service, Hangouts for the online, is now additionally going away for good.

When customers entry the Hangouts website, they could see a message that claims: “Starting November 1, 2022, Hangouts on the web will redirect to Chat on Web. We recommend moving to Chat now.” We can nonetheless entry the web site with out being mechanically redirected, however there is a hyperlink to Google Chat that we are able to click on to load the brand new messaging expertise. The web site would possibly fully disappear within the coming days. 

Chat was once one in all Google’s enterprise choices earlier than the corporate switched up its messaging technique and made it obtainable to everybody. The firm says Chat “opens up new and better ways” to collaborate with options that weren’t obtainable on Hangouts. Users can edit Docs, Slides or Sheets side-by-side inside Chat. Teams at work or teams of associates may also work on paperwork and handle duties utilizing Spaces, which is a devoted place they’ll use for topic-based collaboration. And since Gmail options Chat integration, individuals can simply entry conversations with out having to open the Chat web site. 

Google beforehand stated that those that wish to make a copy of their Hangouts information should use its Takeout tool earlier than the service is gone for good. We nonetheless see Hangouts on Takeout, so those that wish to do some last-minute data-saving might wish to achieve this now whereas it is nonetheless doable.