Google Hangouts still alive and we are in 2021 if you can believe it. Google has not yet killed the best messaging app it has ever made, an app that is a feature that is only two or more than the king. However, they will soon end its life, possibly by the end of 2021. Before we get there, they should allow Hangouts users to test its replacement, the app known as Google Chat.
According to code buried in a recent Google Chat update, Google is preparing to launch a kind of beta experience for Hangouts users. Once it’s live – and it’s very soon when these code rules are already in the app – a pop-up Hangouts will welcome users to Google Chat, telling them that Chat offers a “new experience and features that not found in Hangouts “, and that there may be” errors and other issues “.
If you do not have Chat installed, you can feel free to try it via Gmail. If this sounds weird, you should miss all our coverage on Google Chat and Meet to integrate with Gmail. We already have Meet tabs available, but we plan to add Google Chat to Gmail as well. Google Chat integration seems to be welcome there by inviting Hangouts users as well.
If you’re confused about why you can not already use Google Chat, it’s because Google has taken years to delay it only to a select group of users. People with Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), who are currently the only users with full access, recently had the opportunity to send messages to Chat / Hangouts users outside an organization. This is obviously an important feature if Chat needs to replace the Hangouts.
To sum up, Hangouts is still going away and Google is still planning to replace it with Chat. To do so, it looks like Google is preparing to allow some Hangouts users to Chat through a beta app that is likely to open the floodgates for anyone deciding if Chat is good or it’s really time is to go on.
// 9to5Google