Google Hangouts was a cross-platforminstant messaging (IM) service developed by Google. It originally was a feature of Google+, becoming a standalone product in 2013, when Google also began integrating features from Google+ Messenger and Google Talk into Hangouts. Google then began integrating features of Google Voice, its Internet telephony product, into Hangouts, stating that Hangouts was designed to be "the future" of Voice.
In 2017, Google began developing two separate enterprise communication products: Google Meet and Google Chat,[8] as a part of its Google Workspace office suite. Google began transitioning Workspace users from Hangouts to Meet and Chat in June 2020.[9][10][11] Subsequently, Gmail users transitioned from Hangouts to Meet and Chat during 2021,[12] and Hangouts was discontinued on November 1, 2022.
History
Prior to the launch of Hangouts, Google had maintained several similar, but technologically separate messaging services and platforms across its suite of products. These have included the enterprise-oriented Google Talk (based on XMPP), Google+ Messenger, and the Hangouts feature of Google+, which provided chat, voice, and videoconferencing features. However, its increasingly fragmented and non-unified suite of messaging offerings was also facing growing competition from services such as Facebook Messenger, iMessage, and WhatsApp. A decision was made to scrap the existing Google Talk system and code a new messaging product through a collaboration with multiple development teams.[13]
Following reports that the new service would be known as "Babel", the service officially launched as Hangouts during the Google I/O conference on May 15, 2013.[13][14]
On February 16, 2015, Google announced it would be discontinuing Google Talk and instructed users to migrate to the Hangouts app on the Chrome browser instead.[15]
In January 2016, Google discouraged using Hangouts for SMS, recommending to instead use Google's "Messenger" SMS app[16] (later renamed to "Messages").
In May 2016, at Google I/O 2016, Google announced two new apps: Google Allo, a messaging app with AI capabilities (AI-powered bots[17] and selfie features[18]) and Google Duo, a video calling app. Google's Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones released later that year were the first Google devices shipped with Duo and Allo preinstalled instead of Hangouts.[19] Google has since confirmed that the new apps will not replace Hangouts; Hangouts will remain a separate product.[20][21] In December 2018 Google announced Allo would be discontinued in March 2019 with some of its features migrated into Google Messages.[22]
On August 15, 2016, Google announced that Hangouts on Air would be discontinued on September 12, 2016, and would be folded into YouTube Live, but later on September 11, 2016, Google said the Hangouts on Air shutdown date would be moved up from "September 12, 2016" to "August 1, 2019", to free all some livestreams on YouTube. Users will have to switch to other livestream programs.
On January 6, 2017, Google announced that the Google Hangouts API would shut down on April 25, 2017.[23]
On March 9, 2017, Google announced that Hangouts would be targeted at business users with the Hangouts brand divided into two products: Hangouts Meet (now Google Meet) and Hangouts Chat (now Google Chat). Meet would focus on video conferences and Chat would be focused on instant messaging with additional features such as bot assistant and threaded messaging.[24] The features would be targeted at business customers while consumer versions would use a freemium model.[25] Google stated in December 2018 that "classic" Hangouts would be disabled by October 2019.[26]
In November 2018, the desktop Chrome app version of Hangouts started displaying these banner messages at the top of its window: "The Hangouts Chrome app will be replaced by the Hangouts Chrome extension soon." This has generated many negative user reviews on the Chrome Web Store pages for both the Hangouts extension and the app.
In August 2019, Google announced that the G Suite version of Hangouts would be replaced by "Meet" and "Chat," and push the shut down to June 2020.[27][28]
In April 2020, in response to COVID-19, Google Meet became free for all users.[9][10] Also in April 2020, Google announced Hangouts will remain a consumer-level product for people using standard Google accounts.[29][30][31]
In October 2020, Google announced that Chat would also be made free to everyone and replace "classic" Hangouts by 2021.[11]
In April 2021, Google Chat indeed became free as an "Early Access" service, for users who choose to use it instead of Hangouts.[32]
On June 27, 2022, Google officially announced they would be shutting down Google Hangouts on November 1, 2022 and migrating all users to Google Chat.[33]
Features
A video conference meeting facilitated by Google Hangouts
Hangouts allowed conversations between two or more users. The service could be accessed online through the Gmail or Google+ websites, or through mobile apps available for Android and iOS (which were distributed as a successor to their existing Google Talk apps). However, because it used a proprietary protocol[13] instead of the XMPPopen standard protocol used by Google Talk, most third-party applications which had access to Google Talk did not have access to Google+ Hangouts.
Chat histories were saved online which allowed them to be synced between devices. A "watermark" of a user's avatar was used as a marker to indicate how far they have read into the conversation. Photos could be shared during conversations, which were automatically uploaded into a private Google+ album. Users could also use color emoji symbols in their messages.[34][35]
As with the previous Google+ Hangouts, users could also perform a group video chat with up to 10 users at a time.[36] In 2016 Google upgraded Hangouts to 25 concurrent users in HD video for Work/Education. The new Google Hangouts app on iOS integrated a Google Voice number to some extent, but on Android the SMS supported in Hangouts didn't fully integrate with Google Voice for calls or texts. Integration was first expected by 2014 but was deprecated in January 2016. The reason for the delay appears tied to Google switching away from the XMPP protocol it used, as mentioned above.[37]
For Google Chrome, users did not need to install a plugin. However, for Internet Explorer 11, the user had to install the "Google Talk Plugin" to be able to use the video features.
In Android 4.4, Hangouts was integrated with text messages sending and receiving functions, which is the default SMS app on the Nexus 5. For other Android phones, users could choose to open the SMS function when they download the new version of Hangouts via Google Play. SMS conversations were shown in a drawer on the left side. The update also added GIF support and a new location-sharing button, which allowed the user to send their GPS location to their contacts.[38]
Hangouts included the ability to make free voice calls to other Hangouts users,[39] and charged users (via pre-registered credit) to call landline and mobile phones internationally except for calls to the United States and Canada which were free of charge.[40] Currently, Android users had to have both the Google Hangouts[39] and Hangouts Dialer[41] apps installed if they wish to call landline or mobile telephone numbers via the public switched telephone network. Users will have to use YouTube Live for live-streaming events.[42]
Reception
In May 2013, Google Hangouts faced criticism from the Electronic Frontier Foundation as they felt that Google was "moving in the wrong direction" by shrinking its support for the open standard protocol XMPP.[43] The new protocol made it much more difficult for multi-chat clients like Pidgin and Adium to support Google Hangouts, requiring reverse engineering the protocol. Additionally, the tight integration of Google Hangouts and Google+ could have led to the unwilling sharing of personal information with others.[44]
In November 2014, Make Use Of hailed Google Hangouts as the "best messaging app on Android by far".[45]
In December 2015, Google Hangouts was given a score of 2 out of 7 on the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Secure Messaging Scorecard, receiving points for having communications encrypted in transit and for having completed a recent independent security audit, but missing points for communications being encrypted with keys that the provider has access to, users not being able to verify contacts' identities, past messages not being secure if the encryption keys were stolen, the code not being open to independent review, and the security design not being properly documented.[46][47]
The landscape for instant messaging involves cross-platform instant messaging clients that can handle one or multiple protocols. Clients that use the same protocol can typically federate and talk to one another. The following table compares general and technical information for cross-platform instant messaging clients in active development, each of which have their own article that provide further information.
Google Talk was an instant messaging service that provided both text and voice communication. The instant messaging service was variously referred to colloquially as Gchat, Gtalk, or Gmessage among its users.
Google Voice is a telephone service that provides a U.S. phone number to Google Account customers in the U.S. and Google Workspace customers in Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the contiguous United States. It is used for call forwarding and voicemail services, voice and text messaging, as well as U.S. and international calls. Calls are forwarded to the phone number that each user must configure in the account web portal. Users can answer and receive calls on any of the phones configured to ring in the web portal. While answering a call, the user can switch between the configured phones. Subscribers in the United States can make outgoing calls to domestic and international destinations. The service is configured and maintained by users in a web-based application, similar in style to Google's email service Gmail, or Android and iOS applications on smartphones or tablets.
Rich Communication Services (RCS) is a communication protocol standard for instant messaging, primarily for mobile phones, developed and defined by the GSM Association (GSMA). It aims to be a replacement of SMS and MMS on cellular networks with more modern features including high resolution image and video support, typing indicators, file sharing, and improved group chat functionality. As for MMS, mobile service must be activated. Development of RCS began in 2007 but early versions lacked features and interoperability; a new specification named Universal Profile was developed and has been continually rolled out since 2017.
Google Drive is a file-hosting service and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the cloud, synchronize files across devices, and share files. In addition to a web interface, Google Drive offers apps with offline capabilities for Windows and macOS computers, and Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. Google Drive encompasses Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides, which are a part of the Google Docs Editors office suite that allows collaborative editing of documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, forms, and more. Files created and edited through the Google Docs suite are saved in Google Drive.
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store or Play Store and formerly known as Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating system and its derivatives, as well as ChromeOS, allowing users to browse and download applications developed with the Android software development kit and published through Google. Google Play has also served as a digital media store, offering games, music, books, movies, and television programs. Content that has been purchased on Google Play Movies & TV and Google Play Books can be accessed on a web browser and through the Android and iOS apps.
Messenger, also known as Facebook Messenger, is an American proprietary instant messaging service developed by Meta Platforms. Originally developed as Facebook Chat in 2008, the client application of Messenger is currently available on iOS and Android mobile platforms, Windows and macOS desktop platforms, through the Messenger.com web application, and on the standalone Facebook Portal hardware.
Line is a freeware app and service for instant messaging and social networking, operated by the Japanese company LY Corporation, co-owned by SoftBank Group. Line was launched in Japan in June 2011 by NHN Japan, a subsidiary of Naver.
Google Keep is a note-taking service included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. The service also includes: Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms and Google Sites. Google Keep is available as a web application as well as mobile app for Android and iOS. The app offers a variety of tools for taking notes, including texts, lists, images, and audio. Text from images can be extracted using optical character recognition and voice recordings can be transcribed. The interface allows for a single-column view or a multi-column view. Notes can be color-coded and labels can be applied to notes to categorize them. Later updates have added functionality to pin notes and to collaborate on notes with other Keep users in real-time.
The World's Online Festival (WOLF) (formerly Palringo) is a British messaging and gaming platform with apps for iOS and Android. Users can create groups where they can send text, image, and short audio messages. Groups feature a Stage which provides five live microphone slots for users to chat. The app features a store where users can purchase in-app credits that can be used to buy additional features, utility chatbots and games, and to send in-app gifts to other users. Users have a reputation level that increases from actions such as playing chat games or purchasing credits.
Signal is an open-source, encrypted messaging service for instant messaging, voice calls, and video calls. The instant messaging function includes sending text, voice notes, images, videos, and other files. Communication may be one-to-one between users or may involve group messaging.
Gboard is a virtual keyboard app developed by Google for Android and iOS devices. It was first released on iOS in May 2016, followed by a release on Android in December 2016, debuting as a major update to the already-established Google Keyboard app on Android.
Google Allo was an instant messaging mobile app by Google for the Android and iOS mobile operating systems, with a web client available in some web browsers. It closed on March 12, 2019.
Google Duo was a proprietary voice over IP (VoIP) and videotelephony service released in 2016 by Google and merged into its Google Meet product in 2022. It was available for Android, IOS and web browsers. It let users make and receive one-to-one and group audio and video calls with other Duo users in high definition, using end-to-end encryption by default. Duo could be used either with a phone number or a Google account, allowing users to call someone from their contact list.
Google Meet is a video communication service developed by Google. It is one of two apps that constitute the replacement for Google Hangouts, the other being Google Chat. It replaced the consumer-facing Google Duo on November 1, 2022, with the Duo mobile app being renamed Meet and the original Meet app set to be phased out.
Google Chat is a communication service developed by Google. Initially designed for teams and business environments, it has since been made available for general consumers. It provides direct messaging, group conversations, and spaces, which allow users to create and assign tasks and share files in a central place in addition to chatting. It can be accessed through its own website and app or through the Gmail website and app.
Google Messages is a text messaging software application developed by Google for its Android and Wear OS mobile operating systems. It is also available as a web app.
Comparison of user features of messaging platforms refers to a comparison of all the various user features of various electronic instant messaging platforms. This includes a wide variety of resources; it includes standalone apps, platforms within websites, computer software, and various internal functions available on specific devices, such as iMessage for iPhones.
1 2 "Google is making Meet free for everyone". Techcrunch. April 29, 2020. Archived from the original on April 29, 2020. Retrieved April 29, 2020. For consumer Hangouts, which has been on life support for a long time, this move may accelerate its deprecation.
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