Google Axes Hangouts For Good, Moving Users Over To ‘Chat’

It’s time to say goodbye. Following an announcement earlier this year, Google is shutting down Google Hangouts—its text, video, and voice chat application—for good. 

From here on, users will be switched over to Google Chat, an instant messaging application for businesses that works similarly to Slack. 

When it first launched, the internet thought Hangouts could be Google’s answer to iMessage. Though, despite its five billion downloads, the ambitious plan seems to have withered away in recent years.

According to Gizmodo, it first appeared on good ol’ Google+ (remember that?) as codename ‘Babel’, before turning into a standalone launch in 2013, integrating Google Voice calls and text messaging into a single application.

It’s likely Google then lost hold of its user base when it asked users to ditch the all-in-one application in favor of Messenger for texting, and made the mistake of not pre-installing Hangouts as one of the default applications on its Pixel smartphones. 

If you’ve yet to part with Hangouts, be sure to download and save a copy of your data using Google Takeout, as not all messages and contacts won’t be automatically brought over to Google Chat. Users have two months to secure any remaining information. 

Google is keeping its fingers crossed users make the migration over to Chat, saying it hoped users would appreciate its “continued investment in making Chat a powerful place to create and collaborate.” 

[via TechCrunch and Gizmodo, cover image via Jarretera | Dreamstime.com]