Credit: Joe Hindy / Android Authority
- Google Hangouts is shutting down today.
- The original Google Hangouts web app will now redirect to Google Chat.
- The web app was the last way to access the Google Hangouts service.
It’s been a long time coming, but it’s time to finally say our last goodbyes to Google Hangouts. The video chat service is scheduled to shut down completely later today.
Introduced in 2011, Google Hangouts was one of two messaging services launched by Google that year, the other being a text message service called Huddle. It was then rebranded to Hangouts Chat in 2017 with a new focus on enterprise use. It wasn’t until 2020, that Hangouts Chat was rebranded to Google Chat and the company announced it would sunset the classic Hangouts messaging service.