Recently there have been reports about the fate of Google Hangouts. An initial report from 9to5Google suggested that Google could be shutting Hangouts down in 2020, which Google later (sort of) refuted by claiming that they have yet to decide on a timeline for Hangouts, and that users will eventually be migrated to Hangouts Chat and Meet.We’re sure that this is confusing for some as many probably only knew Hangouts as that platform that you could chat with your friends on, and might not have been aware that Google actually eventually launched Hangouts Chat and Meet that focused more on enterprise users. Now in a statement released to Android Police, Google has clarified the entire matter at hand.
According to Google, “In March 2017, we announced plans to evolve classic Hangouts to focus on two experiences that help bring teams together: Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet. Both Chat and Meet are available today for G Suite customers and will be made available for consumer users, too. We have not announced an official timeline for transitioning users from classic Hangouts to Chat and Meet. We are fully committed to supporting classic Hangouts users until everyone is successfully migrated to Chat and Meet.”
Hopefully this statement has made it clearer to Hangouts users, but when exactly that transition from Hangouts “classic” to Hangouts Chat and Meet is unclear, but we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled.