Things are changing at Google. Google Duo becomes Google Meet and Google Hangouts users are pushed into Google Chat. It is to be hoped that after all these years, Google will soon have a functioning and uniform messenger strategy. Starting today, Google says Hangouts users on mobile will see an in-app screen prompting them to go to chat in Gmail or the chat app.
Likewise, users of the Hangouts Chrome extension will be prompted to switch to Chat on the web 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 prior to the 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 on 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 even more features like direct calls, inline threading in Spaces, and the ability to share and view multiple images.
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