Google Workspace users will face Chat migration from Hangouts in March
Gather ‘round, Hangouts fans — the day you all knew was coming is near.Google has been slowly sunsettingone of its many messaging attempts, with Chat (the service, not the RCS backend) serving as a replacement. As we continue to roll into 2022, there’s not much time left in theHangouts transition timeline. Today’s update from Google provides us with some hard dates for when users will be shuffled off into the world of Chat.
According to aWorkspace blog post, the company is now ready to move Hangouts into its last phase, following opt-out migration efforts last summer. Starting on March 22nd, all users will automatically have “Chat preferred” enabled in their settings if it isn’t already. This toggle sets Chat as your account’s default app for messaging, redirecting Hangouts in Gmail and Hangouts mobile apps to the newer service. Unlike previous stages, you can’t opt out of this move — once it’s done, it’s done.
The start date for this transition depends on your Workspace admin settings. Those with Chat and classic Hangouts enabled will see these changes over three weeks starting on March 22nd, while classic Hangouts only users will have until April 4th, after which the transition will take up to five weeks. Once this setting is switched to Chat preferred, only hangouts.google.com will stay enabled.
It’s worth noting this particular move is exclusive to Workspace users. Personal accounts have their own timeline to face, though there are no hard dates just yet. Last August,non-Workspace users started seeing banners inviting them to try out Chat. We wouldn’t be surprised to see those accounts follow closely behind this move.
Hangouts has been fading from the public eye for a while now, beginning with the introduction of the (failed, defunct) Allo app in 2016. WhileGoogle has mostly centered itselfaround a couple of different messaging methods, its legacy of confusing and overlapping strategies continues to be a factor in the battle against platforms like WhatsApp and iMessage.
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