For the longest time ever, Google Hangouts was Google’s messenger platform where users could use it to chat with friends on their phones, via the dedicated website app, or even use it within other apps such as Gmail. However back in 2016, Google announced that Hangouts would be transitioning more towards business users, although it seems that might not be the case anymore.
In a report from 9to5Google, it seems that part of Google’s roadmap for the next couple of years involves the shutting down of Hangouts (or Hangouts classic as Google refers to it now). It was initially reported that it was targeted for 2020, but Google Hangouts product lead Scott Johnston has since refuted that timelime, although at the same time he doesn’t deny that it will eventually be shut down as they transition users to Hangouts Chat and Meet, so right now users can still go ahead and use the service but don’t expect it to stick around for much longer.
However we mentioned above, Google is expected to hold onto the Hangouts brand and will be keeping both Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet, both of which was launched last year and were designed to be apps for team communications, kind of like Google’s take on Slack. We suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that Hangouts is coming to an end, what with Google focusing on its Allo and Duo apps and Android Messages. Google has yet to officially mention a timeframe in which they expect all of this to happen, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled for more info.