Things are changing at Google. Google Duo becomes Google Meet and Google Hangouts users are pushed to Google Chat. Hopefully after all these years, Google will soon have a functional and consistent messaging strategy. Starting today, Google says that Hangouts users on mobile devices will see a screen in the app telling them to go chat in Gmail or the chat app.
Similarly, users of the Hangouts Chrome extension will be prompted to switch to Web Chat or install the Chat web app. In July, users using 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 notice at least one month before the change from Hangouts on the web to Chat on the web.
For most users, conversations automatically migrate from Hangouts to Chat, making it easy to pick up where you left off. However, we recommend that users who want to keep a copy of their Hangouts data bring their data with them. download google to go, before Hangouts stops being available in November 2022.
To learn more about the differences between Chat and Hangouts, migration timelines, and why it’s recommended to download Hangouts data, can be found in the help center.
Google says it has ambitions for the future of Chat, and in the coming months users will see even more features like direct calls, online threads in Spaces, and the ability to share and view multiple images.
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