Google starts hinting at users to shift to Chats from Hangouts

Publish date: 2023-06-10

What you need to know

As promised, Google is beginning the complete transition of users from its Hangouts to the Chat app starting this week. While the company allowed Google Workspace users to move their Hangouts conversations to the new Chat app early this year, the remaining users will now get help from the search giant to have a smoother transition. 

The move comes after the announcement in October 2020, when Google made Chat available for everyone. Ever since, the company has given people the option to continue using Hangouts or upgrade to the new Google Chat app, which has a standalone app or can be accessed from the web either through Gmail or through chat.google.com.

The option is no longer voluntary, as the remaining Google Hangout mobile users will start witnessing an in-app screen recommending users to move to Chat in Gmail or the Chat app. Likewise, the Hangout chrome extension users will get alerts to either use the Chat web app or install the app individually. And, starting next month, consumers using the Hangouts feature through Gmail on the web will automatically be upgraded to Chat in Gmail.

The transition to Chat doesn't affect the current conversations as it would still allow users to pick from where they left off on the Hangouts app, which is handy. In an accompanying blog post, Google suggested that Hangouts is still available later this year. That being said, Google is encouraging people to shift to the new app as early as possible as they would see an in-product notice at least a month before Hangouts redirects to Chat on the web.

It further insists that this facility will no longer be possible post-November, 2022, h8inting that Hangouts will shut down the same month. 

Google Chat is inevitably a better alternative than Hangouts as it opens up more options like editing Google Docs and Sheets side-by-side without disturbing the ongoing conversation, for instance. The Chat also has Spaces wherein users can share ideas and work on documents across teams, to name a few. The other nifty feature includes a new integrated view in Gmail where users can access their Inbox, Spaces, and Meet all in one place.

While you can still access Hangouts on the best Android phones, it's time to make the transition as quickly as possible as it brings more features and better integration. Google further hints it has bigger plans for the future of Chat, and Android phone users can likely see them in the coming months. That could include a direct calling feature next to in-line threading in Spaces and the ability to share and view multiple images.

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