Google Hangouts is still alive and we are in 2021 if you can believe that. Google has yet to take down the best messaging app it ever made, an app that was a feature pair to become the king. However, they will end their lives soon, possibly in late 2021. Before we get there, Hangouts users should test its replacement, the app known as Google Chat.
According to lines of code buried in a recent Google Chat update, Google is preparing to launch some sort of beta version for Hangouts users. Once live – and it could be really soon if these lines of code are already in the app – a pop-up welcomes Hangouts users to Google Chat, letting them know that Chat offers “a new experience and features not found in Hangouts can be found “, and that there may be” bugs and other problems. “
If you don’t have Chat installed, you may also be welcome to try it via Gmail. If that sounds weird, then you must have missed all of our coverage on Google Chat and Meet to integrate with Gmail. We already have Meet tabs available, but there are plans to add Google Chat to Gmail as well. It seems like Google Chat integration can welcome there by inviting Hangouts users too.
If you’re not sure why you can’t use Google Chat already, it’s because it took Google years to slowly roll it out for a select group of users only. People with Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), who are currently the only users with full access, have only recently gained the ability to send messages to Chat / Hangouts users outside an organization. That is clearly an important feature if Chat is to replace Hangouts.
In summary, Hangouts is still disappearing and Google is still planning to replace it with Chat. To do that, Google appears to be preparing to have some Hangouts users test Chat through a beta program that will likely open the floodgates for anyone who decides whether Chat is good or whether it’s really time to move on.
// 9to5Google