Google Hangouts is closing. After the messenger was made inaccessible to Workspace, the company slowly transferred some free users to Google Chat. This is reported by The Verge with reference to the blog of the companies.

People who use Hangouts in the mobile app will see a hint on how to switch to Chat. For those who use Hangouts in the web version, Google will not offer a transition until July. Here they will remain available until November. Users will be notified of the transition at least one month before the Hangouts site directs them to Chat.

Google has already created several services for instant messaging. Modern Google Chat is not the same as GChat (or Google Talk) which was forever closed this month. Hangouts users are scheduled to be transferred to Chat since 2018. In 2020, this feature became completely free.

Hangouts messages should be automatically transferred to Chat. You can also use the Takeout service to download data from Hangouts before the messenger stops working.

Google encourages you to switch to Chat by announcing several new features. These include the ability to call directly, create threads in Spaces, and share and view many images.