Google Chat for Internet now launches for personal accounts

This story was originally published 2021/02/25
06:01 PSTon 25 February 2021 and last updated 2021/03/01
05:59 PSTon March 1, 2021.

Google has been announcing for some time that it will split Hangout into two separate services – Chat and Meet. For workspace accounts, the transition to Chat started last year, but personal account holders got a vague ETA of ‘first half of 2021’. For some lucky accounts, the migration started in early August 2020 and continued throughout the year and early in 2021 (we have received dozens of tips since the original one). It now seems to be more official because Google recognizes the transition and calls it a “preview” of Google Chat.

Ars Technica’s Ron Amadeo is one of the first users to notice this and according to him all his contacts are available in the Chat app. This is what we expected, as Google promised that Hangouts conversations, contacts, and saved history would be migrated automatically. Unfortunately – probably because it’s a preview – group chats are still unavailable.

My Google Chat is now showing this Hangouts “Preview” message.

All my individual contacts seem to be working and accessible via the search bar.

The only feature missing now is group chat. pic.twitter.com/Vf8mLahrbE

– Ron Amadeo (@RonAmadeo) 24 February 2021

Ron also points out that video calls made via the app do not ring the recipient’s phone like an incoming call. Instead, they send out an invitation link for a ‘video event’ that is not as comfortable as it used to be with Hangouts. Although there is no insurance, this issue can be addressed when Google makes the Chat app available for all free, personal accounts.

The current “preview” deployment seems pretty limited and none of my personal accounts have received it yet.