Starting in June, all personal Google accounts can enable the new version of Gmail that supports Chat and Rooms, with a major improvement in productivity. Now the process of shutting down classic Hangouts for Workspace users is almost complete, as this week Google is enabling Chat and Rooms integration into Gmail for even more paid accounts.
Google’s planned five-stage migration now reaches Phase 4 where companies using the Classic Chat and Hangouts setting will be moved to the Preferred Chat option by default. This phase started this week and will involve most organizations in the third quarter, however, admins can postpone, but this is the last step before the mandatory upgrade currently scheduled for late 2021 when all customers will be migrated.
For end-users, the main change concerns Gmail. A notice will appear on the web prompting you to reload the card and then Hangouts will be replaced by Chat and Rooms in the sidebar. Google Workspace users on Android and iOS will be shown a Chat and rooms are now in Gmail warning with options to resend or restart. In the latter case, the app will add two tabs to the bottom bar.
The mobile apps and the Hangouts website will still continue to work, but they are now in the fruit. Google has yet to announce when classic Hangouts will disappear for free Gmail users, however, the deprecation is ongoing.
