Things are changing at Google. Google Duo has become Google Meet and Google Hangouts users are being pushed into Google Chat. Hopefully, after all these years, Google will soon have an effective and unified messaging strategy. As of today, Google says mobile Hangouts users will see an in-app screen asking them to go to chat in Gmail or the chat app.
Similarly, users of the Hangouts Chrome extension will be required to switch to chat on the web or install the Chat app on the web. In July, users who use Hangouts in Gmail on the web will switch to Chat in Gmail. However, Hangouts on the web will be available until the end of the year. Users will receive an in-product notification at least one month before they switch from Hangouts on the web to chat on the web.
For most users, conversations are automatically migrated from Hangouts to Chat, making it easy to pick up where you left off. However, it is recommended that users who wish to keep a copy of their Hangouts data download their data using Google Takeout before Hangouts becomes unavailable in November 2022.
Visit the Help Center for more information about the differences between chat and Hangouts, migration timelines, and why we recommend downloading Hangouts data.
Google says it has ambitions for the future of chat, and in the coming months users will see more features like direct calls, threading built into Spaces, and the ability to share and view multiple photos.
