Google Chat will soon replace regular Hangouts for Workspace customers. Google said it would disable prior Hangouts mobile apps as part of this, and the iPhone app has been removed from the App Store. Updated 29th March: Hangouts for Android has been removed from the Play Store. It is no longer accessible in search results, but users can still utilise it.
To avoid receiving multiple notifications from the Gmail or standalone Chat applications, users must first close (top-right corner) the “Move to Google Chat in Gmail” page. Removing the iPhone and iPad listing for new users is definitely a step towards disabling Google Hangouts. As of this afternoon, the Android client is still available.
The App Store search for “Hangouts” returns no results, and the direct link is also defunct. Not long ago, Google announced that Chat will become the default application for existing Workspace customers. The change affects “all classic Hangouts applications except hangouts2.google.com.”
On iPad, Hangouts outperforms Chat and Gmail. Conversations appear on the left, and open threads appear on the right, in the old client. Today’s Gmail/Chat for iPad is a stretched phone app. Because the Gmail app is already installed on their smartphones, this isn’t the worst migration method.
I prefer phone: The disappointing status of Google’s Android tablet apps
User migration to Chat and Spaces began last week. Personal/free accounts will be transitioned after enterprise accounts, although no date has been announced.
