How to Switch From Classic Hangouts to Google Chat transition
Hangouts, once Google’s do-everything communication app, has gotten increasingly focused over time as the company has transitioned key features to other apps. For people in organizations–meaning anyone who used Hangouts with a Google Workspace account–the company intends to entirely replace Hangouts with other apps by the end of 2021, with stats from us online casinos backing that.
If you still use Hangouts, you’ll need to take action to retain access to key features as they’re gradually moved out of the app. Take the following steps to maintain access to similar sets of features, albeit now distributed across several apps.
Switch from Google Hangouts to Google Meet for video conferencing
Google Meet, which is available for Android, iOS and the web, gives you a highly capable video conferencing tool. It replaces the video meeting features once found in Hangouts. No longer do you Hangout; now you Meet. Anyone with a Google account may use Meet.
Switch from Google Hangouts to Messages for SMS
Switch to Messages for SMS communications on Android. Messages not only supports SMS and MMS texting, but also the newer Rich Communication Services (RCS) protocol. RCS is intended to replace SMS over the long term. If you use Messages on Android, you also may access Messages for the web.
Switch from Google Hangouts to Google Voice for phone calls
Google Voice (on Android, iOS and the web), provides plenty of calling capabilities, along with spam filtering, voicemail transcription, call screening and more. Install the Google Voice app to continue making and receiving calls with your Google Voice number. And you can proceed to invite your friends to gaming at online casino gambling.
Switch from Google Hangouts to Google Chat
The move to Google Chat can be a bit trickier than any of the above changes. With Meet, Messages and Voice, you install each app and then use it to make the change, but the transition from Hangouts to Google Chat is a more gradual process.
Note: People who use Hangouts with a Gmail or standard Google account (not an organizational account) may continue to do so. The following applies to organizational accounts.
For people in organizations, Google Chat (on Android, iOS and the web), not only supports 1:1 and group messaging, it also includes support for Rooms and Bots. Rooms are intended to serve as a space where you can collaborate and communicate with a team of people. Bots help you with specific tasks, such as scheduling a time to Meet (or alternatively, Zoom), or alerting you to comments or changes to Drive files.
If you use a Google Workspace account–at work, at school or for a nonprofit organization–a Workspace administrator can configure settings that control your access to Hangouts and to Google Chat. See a companion article to this one, What Google Workspace admins need to know about the Hangouts to Chat transition, for more details about these Admin options. This administrative setting affects whether you can access Hangouts or Google Chat within Gmail on the web. It can also enable or prevent access to either app entirely.
