Google has announced the official removal of Hangouts, which was previously available in the enterprise G Suite. Specifically, the company told “The Verge” that it will replace Hangouts Chat with Google Chat. The “redesign” of the application is followed by a corresponding name change, which was confirmed yesterday, as the video conferencing application will be renamed from Hangouts Meet to Google Meet. This latest change was made known by an updated G Suite support document that includes Google Chat along with Google Meet. Of course, the two versions of Chat should not be confused – Google gave the new version of Chat this name to highlight the relatively new Android that is based on RCS (Rich Communication Service). However, a Google spokesperson told “The Verge” that there will be no changes to the classic version of Hangouts for consumers.
The Hangouts app has been around for about seven years. But the product never quite caught on with Gchat . Google's often "messy and flawed" messaging strategy has left Hangouts competing with a slew of messaging and video calling apps that the tech giant has been pushing out in recent years. For now, Hangouts for G Suite, the workplace version of the chat app, will continue to exist, as Google postponed its discontinuation last August. But Google Chat is now more than just a Slack competitor , offering more powerful productivity and quality messaging in the workplace than a simple messaging app like the old Gchat. Finally, Gmail accounts as well as iOS and Android devices can still access the original consumer version of Hangouts for now.
