14 DAY TRIAL // Google has completed the retirement of Hangouts, a service which at one point was considered the search giant’s very own alternative not only to Apple’s iMessage but also to the likes of WhatsApp and Telegram.
Hangouts is being upgraded to Google Chat as part of a process that started earlier this year. The web-based version, however, is being pushed offline today, with Google now claiming that users will be redirected to the web version of Google Chat.
All data will continue to be available until January 1, at which point everything will be deleted.
“Google Hangouts is being upgraded to Google Chat at the end of 2022 for those who haven’t already upgraded. Some people may have already moved to Google Chat and may no longer be able to use Google Hangouts on some platforms,” Google said in the original announcement.
“Access to Hangouts on the web will be available until November 1, 2022. After that time, users will be redirected to Chat on the web. Users can continue to use Google Takeout to download their data until January 1, 2023 (PST, GMT-7).”
While Google is encouraging users to move from Google Hangouts to Chat, worth knowing is that the migration doesn’t include all the data that is currently stored in Hangouts. The company, however, says it has already emailed impacted users on the matter, so you should find all the information on this front in your inbox.
“As part of the migration of conversations from Hangouts to Google Chat, some conversations or portions of conversations won’t automatically migrate from Hangouts to Chat. We will email impacted users with more information around September 2022. Starting November 1, 2022, Hangouts on the web will no longer be available. If you wish to keep your Hangouts data, we strongly encourage you to use Google Takeout and download a copy before January 1, 2023, when Hangouts data will be deleted,” the company explains.
The full information on the retirement of Google Hangouts is available on this page.