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Google Will Start Retiring Hangouts For G Suite Users In October (techcrunch.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the mark-your-calendar dept.

In a blog post, Google clarified the timeline of the transition from classic Hangouts to Chat and Meet for its paying G Suite customers. "For them, the Hangouts retirement party will start in October of this year," reports TechCrunch. From the report: For consumers, the situation remains unclear, but Google says there will be free versions of Chat and Meet that will become available "following the transition of G Suite customers." As of now, there is no timeline, so for all we know, Hangouts will remain up and running into 2020. As for G Suite users, Google says it will start bringing more features from classic Hangouts to Chat between April and September. Those include integration with Gmail, the ability to talk to external users, improved video calling and making calls with Google Voice.

35 comments

  1. Hangouts, Chat, Meets, confusing mess by blahbooboo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Amazing how Google could so mess up messaging. It's a confusing mess now. I can't tell what product does what anymore.. Hangouts is mostly dead anyway as most folks seem to have moved on to other platforms.

    The original Google Chat was such a success, Google just completely dropped the ball!

    1. Re:Hangouts, Chat, Meets, confusing mess by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Hangouts has over a billion installs on Android. It's extremely popular, by far Google's most popular messaging app and the default for handling SMS on Android. A lot of people use it.

      Hangouts video chat is the best free video chat system available, especially for more than two people. The way it handles conference calls is unparalleled. They keep talking about replacements for text chat, but it's the video chat I'm worried about.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:Hangouts, Chat, Meets, confusing mess by shortscruffydave · · Score: 1

      Plenty of applications which get bundled with Android could claim millions of installs. That doesn't mean they actually get used though, so really stretches the meaning of the word "popular"

    3. Re:Hangouts, Chat, Meets, confusing mess by TeknoHog · · Score: 3, Funny

      Sun: We're the "dot" in the "dot com".
      Google: We're the "mess" in "messaging".

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    4. Re:Hangouts, Chat, Meets, confusing mess by swillden · · Score: 1

      Hangouts has over a billion installs on Android. It's extremely popular, by far Google's most popular messaging app and the default for handling SMS on Android.

      Hangouts does not handle SMS on Android any more, unless you're using Google Voice or Google Fi. SMS on non-Google carriers must use the Messages app or a third party app. Even before they removed the ability for Hangouts to handle (non-Google) SMS, Messages was the default.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    5. Re:Hangouts, Chat, Meets, confusing mess by blahbooboo · · Score: 1

      Granted this is a skewed sample, but I've found most android folks I try to use hangouts with have to "find the hangouts app" to message them on it as they never use it.

    6. Re:Hangouts, Chat, Meets, confusing mess by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Huh, thanks, I didn't know that. I switched to Signal ages ago but I was thinking to ditching it because I can't get anyone else on board and it kinda sucks.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re:Hangouts, Chat, Meets, confusing mess by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Amazing how Google could so mess up messaging. It's a confusing mess now. I can't tell what product does what anymore.

      In your subject line you forgot Messages (Android SMS app) and Allo. Yes, it's a mess.

      The original Google Chat was such a success, Google just completely dropped the ball!

      Here's my take on how it all evolved.

      I think this is a result of a search for chat domination. Rather than be happy as a large niche player in the chat space, they keep looking for that one weird trick to huge success. Google Chat was successful, but not hugely successful, and its XMPP basis limited Google's ability to add features believed to be needed for huge success. So, Hangouts (I'll ignore the confusing branding which combined text and video chat products under a single name -- though my guess there the idea was to converge video and text so thoroughly that one name made sense, but people just see them as fundamentally different) was born, and it also achieved moderate success, mostly by converting Google Chat users over. A small number of users left because of the loss of XMPP federation, but not many, and Google knew there wouldn't be many because they knew the federation features were used by few.

      Hangouts tooled along fine for years, but the rise of Facebook messaging, WhatsApp and WeChat made clear that much more was possible. In keeping with the "AI everywhere" mantra (and "Google Assistant" everywhere), Allo was born, with the intention of provided "assisted" chat, plus support for extensibility. But few people bothered with Allo, because people don't go looking for chat apps, they use the ones attached to the platforms they use (e.g. Facebook), or the ones their friends use. And not many people found the assistant aspect compelling.

      Meanwhile, GSuite has been doing very well. Enterprise subscriptions to GSuite have become a significant revenue and profit stream, and while Hangouts was a decent enterprise messaging tool, Slack was better. Hangout video chat made a great enterprise video conferencing system, especially with its tight integration with Google Calendar and the ChromeOS-based videoconferencing hardware Google sells, but it could be improved. So, Chat and Meet were born as enterprise versions of Hangouts chat/video.

      Now, with Allo and Duo clearly non-starters, and not wishing to maintain parallel enterprise and consumer text/video chat solutions, it appears that the new strategy is to eventually replace old Hangouts with Chat and Meet for consumers as well as enterprises. I would guess that at some point the Google Assistant will become one of the bots available in Chat (if it isn't already), to bring back that element of Allo.

      I really hope the story ends here. Chat & Meet are decent names for good tools that do the jobs intended. Integration between them is good, and Chat in particular seems almost infinitely extensible through bots. But... it's unlikely that they'll become major non-enterprise successes (they'll have millions of users, but not billions), which argues that there will be another chapter to this saga. On the other hand, they'll be hugely successful among GSuite enterprises, and as part of GSuite they'll generate increasing billions of dollars every year. So maybe it will end there.

      Oh, and in the meantime, SMS messaging, which was converged into Hangouts for a while, is going in a completely different direction at Google. Who knows where that will go... maybe it will stay separate, maybe it will get converged into Chat.

  2. Nobody cares for the "eco-system" by Dorianny · · Score: 1

    Google's obsession with tying all their products together has been the death-kneel of many of their projects. For the most part people are just not interested in the all-encompassing approach. Facebook has been much smarter in letting multiple products appear to be seperate even when they offer some of the same functionality, facebook messanger, whatsapp, instagram and run on the same underlying platform

    1. Re:Nobody cares for the "eco-system" by Solandri · · Score: 3, Informative

      These apps worked better together. In Hangouts, I could be texting someone, decide I'd rather talk to them and call them via my Google Voice account by tapping a single button. Later if I decided to switch that call from a voice call to a video call, I could do that with another video tap. If I then decided to add someone else to the video call, I just had to add the extra person. All from withing Hangouts. The only thing it didn't support was seamlessly transferring cellular calls to VoIP and vice versa.

      Now if you want to do the above, it's a confusing hodgepodge of different apps. You have to text someone with Messages or Allo (I'm still not sure what the difference between the two is). If you decide you'd rather talk with them, you have to switch to the Google Voice app, look them up in your contacts, and initiate the call. If you then decide you want to change it to a video call, you have to hang up and call them again on the Duo app. And if you decide you want to add a third person to your video call, you have to end the Duo call, start the Meet app, and call everyone all over again.

      I still don't understand why they're killing off Hangouts. The replacements are an app that does only messaging, an app that does only VoIP, an app that does only video calls, and an app that does only video conferencing. Hangouts was a communications app. Its closest analogue was Skype, where you could video conference between multiple people, or a single person, or disable the camera to get just a voice call, or just type messages to each other. It made sense to tie all of these into a single app, so all you had to do was pick what mode of communication you wanted at that moment - text, voice, video, or conference video.

    2. Re:Nobody cares for the "eco-system" by SoapBoxRants · · Score: 1

      This. It's not so much whether it is one app or several. It's about how none of these apps work together like the single app did. You cannot move a conversation from chat to a call or video seamlessly. Hangouts does this. The fruit company makes this easier as well. Nobody wants to open up one app to text, then close that app and open up the phone or contacts app so they can find that person's entry to call them. It's just frustrating that they are going from a great user experience to a terrible one.

      And that, sadly, has me almost considering going back to the fruit company.

      --
      It is a mistake to think you can solve any problem with just potatoes.
    3. Re:Nobody cares for the "eco-system" by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Google clearly prefer it, because it locks out competitors that do elements of it much batter and it provides one 'RING' of services, "One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them". https://www.youtube.com/watch?....

      It should be way more funnier than it is but everyone should know exactly their intent by creating a central local to control 'ALL' human social interactions on their services or is you your service and fealty to them. The big shit at Alphabet might be too much of a stain to publicly be in charge, clearly still pulling the strings. Imagine Google getting worse than M$, well, it seems to be happening.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    4. Re:Nobody cares for the "eco-system" by An+Ominous+Coward · · Score: 1

      Re: Change to video call

      And if you or the other party are on a PC (Linux, Mac, Windows, anything with a browser) then you're SOL, because as far as I can tell there's no web client for Duo and no expectation to get one.

  3. deconnectiveness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    been 18 years of increasing connectiveness and old companies - Google - experience no end in site to the money lost with interconnecting services

    Speculate that Google wants to avoid GPDR or other of the increasing privacy regulations

  4. What replaces Hangouts? by ctilsie242 · · Score: 1

    Hangouts had a nice niche. For personal use, Discord comes to mind. However, for a company, perhaps Slack might be the answer. Or perhaps moving from G-Suite to O365 and using Teams.

    Wish Discord had an enterprise tier.

    1. Re:What replaces Hangouts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hangouts is just being split into Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet. Hangouts Chat also will have more features than "classic" Hangouts (so a slack alternative). They will be migrating Gsuite customers first, but normal google accounts will also move to Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet probably by the end of the year.

      So long story short Hangouts isn't going away, just changing.

    2. Re:What replaces Hangouts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't think you understand what features Hangouts offers currently. That or your definition of "split into" is taking 2 features and creating new apps for them, while losing all other features completely.

    3. Re:What replaces Hangouts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What features will be missing?

      Chat? Got that.
      Video calls? Got that.
      Voice Calls? Got that.
      Google Voice Integration? Will have that.

      There are some integration between Meet and Chat as well. An example is Hangouts Chat has a call button just like classic Hangouts but it launches Hangouts Meet.

      So between the 2 apps, what will be missing again?

    4. Re:What replaces Hangouts? by Psion · · Score: 1

      Draw. I used it a lot in conferences. I could generate a new picture from within Hangouts, then post it to one or more participants. If there was a need for updates, any one of the participants could draw on the same picture and re-post it. That went away without any explanation last fall.

    5. Re: What replaces Hangouts? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol, Teams.

    6. Re:What replaces Hangouts? by skinfaxi · · Score: 1

      Maybe Draw is being replaced with Jamboard? https://jamboard.google.com/

  5. Google Voice by crow · · Score: 1

    For me, Google Voice is the big issue. I can install Hangouts and the Hangouts Dialer, sign up for a Google Voice number, and then my phone works as a phone anywhere I have WiFi, and it's totally free. This is wonderful for overseas travel. It's also great for setting up an old phone for occasional special uses, or for a kid to have a phone to call from school.

    I don't really care about Hangouts, and the summary suggests that it won't be retired until the Voice integration with Chat is completed, so presumably I can just switch over, and I'm happy with that.

    1. Re:Google Voice by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      I just wish they'd give us a roadmap so we can plan ahead to use their service.

      Their service will probably continue, but probably isn't good enough; it causes me to want to switch. Their lack of planning all by itself makes paid VOIP competitive with their free service. That screams "lost opportunity" IMO.

      And then in addition to using Voice, I also subscribe to a paid Skype account for international calling. I'd have rather been paying google for those services as part of Voice, but they're not price competitive.

      Every year I move closer to the strange conclusion that Google considers any money earned by activities other than advertising to be unclean, and they don't want to accidentally earn any of it!

    2. Re:Google Voice by barra.ponto · · Score: 1

      I'm in the same boat, though it seems, according to this site, that one can use the GVoice app for VOIP without using one's cell phone plan.

    3. Re:Google Voice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just fork out for unlimited phone service, you cheapskate. It's not that expensive.

    4. Re:Google Voice by crow · · Score: 1

      You may not have anything better to spend your money on, but I certainly don't want to waste money. I don't want to pay for international roaming when I only want to call from my hotel with included free WiFi. I don't want to pay for any service for an old phone that I send with my kid to the library to call me when he wants to be picked up. This isn't about using VoIP instead of limited cellular minutes, it's about using VoIP instead of paying for any service whatsoever.

  6. I like Hangouts by foxalopex · · Score: 1

    I believe the message is more for paying commercial customers that use Gsuite. As for myself I'm actually a fan of Hangouts using it as an alternative texting service and a way to send pictures and files. Hangouts dialer still does free phone calls over WiFi for North American numbers.

  7. So confusing by itamblyn · · Score: 1

    When I use gmail, I click on contacts' names and I can chat with them. I can also do video and voice. Whatever that service is called (I've lost track of all of their changes) is useful and should not be removed.

  8. Never rely on Google for anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You WILL regret it.

  9. Allo, Duo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't forget those

  10. This is death to G Suites by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I presume this is simply another middle finger to G Suite users in attempt to decrease usage of that program which they hope to minimize usage of before killing the whole G Suite program. G Suite (formerly google Apps - also confusing) users have been banned from writing reviews on any Google Play content for about 8 months now. Weird that some of us actually paid for this G Suite service and they are really shunning us hard now.

  11. Messages for Web doesn't seem that great by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 1

    The replacement for Hangouts SMS/MMS on the desktop browser is Messages for Web, at messages.android.com . You use this by installing the Messages app on your Android device, and then choosing Messages for Web in the app menu and scanning the QR code presented by the desktop browser.

    It sounds to me like this requires that you leave your phone on with Messages running in background, as SMS and MMS are sent through your phone in response to a network connection. Project Fi and Hangouts can currently handle SMS directly from your desktop.

    --
    Bruce Perens.
    1. Re:Messages for Web doesn't seem that great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Messages for web is shit. It relies on your phone being on and on the wi-fi network and you can't make calls or video calls with it.. With Hangouts you can use any device. Messages is a shitty, shitty alternative.

  12. Why would anyone use google tools? by ilsaloving · · Score: 1

    Google has a serious issue with service stability. They create and drop services like a toddler with their coat. So it makes me wonder why anyone would trust anything made by Google at this point.

    And it's not just services. Literally anything Google produces is at risk of being dropped or significantly refactored to the point of breaking existing stuff. Just look at AngularJS. They didn't like it and completely rewrote it, completely breaking all existing code.

    At this point I try to avoid anything by Google where I can. If I do use something, it's not a core component that I can't live without.

  13. Shooting themselves in the foot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google has previously killed off popular services (like Google Reader). Google has tried to kill off others, Google Voice, but then changed course. Google has put everything into services that became failures, Google+ (or Google-Plus, or Google Plus, or don't use a freaking symbol in a name). But when it comes to messaging, Google has tried and failed/failing on several different services (Google Talk, Messages, Buzz, Wave, Duo, and on and on and on).

    So why would Google kill off a very popular (>1 billion installs) service like Hangouts? This is just another reason to find a more stable company for messaging services than Google.