Google to shut down Hangouts in November

Google will shut down its Hangouts service in November this year and is shifting users of the service to Google chat.

Previously, Google Chat had fully replaced Hangouts for workplace users in March. As a result, all those who try using Hangouts from phones or emails will be directed towards Chat.

According to The Verge, while Hangouts will be available till November, users will be given a warning at least one month in advance to switch to Chat completely.

In an announcement on the website, Google said, “We’ve continued to invest in Chat to help people better collaborate and express themselves, and now we’re taking steps to help remaining Hangouts users move to Chat.”

Google will transfer all the data from Hangout to Chats for its users. If anyone wishes to download the chat from Hangouts, they can do that as well.

Compared to Hangouts, Google Chat has more features to keep the new users engaged. According to Google, “Chat also includes Spaces, a dedicated place for topic-based collaboration. Groups and teams can share ideas, work on documents, and manage files and tasks, all from a single location. And, the new integrated view in Gmail makes it easier to use Chat alongside your Gmail inbox, Spaces, and Meet.”

Google plans on improving Chat as much as it can over time to ensure a good experience for its users.