Hangouts For G Suite Shutting Down In October, Consumer To Follow

Hangouts is dead! Long live Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet! Google has never really had a long-lasting and unified messaging solution so it was no surprise when it announced that Hangouts would be retired in favor of two apps that provided functionality previously found in a single service. There's no need to panic yet, though, because it's going to take a while for that to happen. Meanwhile, Google is urging G Suite admins to slowly take the steps to transition their users to the two new apps.

The ball will formally start rolling on April 16 this year. On that date, G Suite domains will see some changes and admins might have to take action, whether they like it or not. For one, Hangouts Chat will become available to users even though classic Hangouts will continue working (unless the admin disables it). Settings will be also be renamed to reflect the transition, with "Hangouts Meet" replacing classic Hangouts video and Google Hangouts.

The hammer falls in October 2019 when classic Hangouts will be retired for all G Suite owners. Ready or not, they will all be transitioned to Chat, though the exact details will be announced at a later date. Before then, Google is encouraging administrators to transition already, though some of the features from classic Hangouts will only be added to Chat and Meet between April and September.

That's pretty much the schedule for Hangouts on G Suite, but what about regular consumers? Luckily for them, their transition period is going to be a bit longer. Google hasn't yet announced a date or even a month but it assures users that their time will come after G Suite customers have made the transition.