Classic Hangouts shutdown starts as Google Voice and Fi integrations stop working

Back in October, Google detailed how it would move users of its previous messaging app to alternate services in 2021. As part of the migration, Google has shut down classic Hangouts integration with both Google Voice and Fi.

Google Voice

Hangouts and Google Voice were originally integrated so that incoming voice calls would ring the Hangouts mobile app or Gmail on the web. For the past few months, Google has encouraged users to start using the dedicated Voice apps ahead of an “early next year” deprecation timeline.

The company has now updated its support document with the following banner:

Google shut down Google Voice and Google Fi integration with classic Hangouts in early 2021. Switch to Google Voice from classic Hangouts for your calls and messages.

You will be able to export classic Hangouts data until July 2021, while credit refunds are being offered. Switching to Voice simply involves using the Android, iOS, or web apps, which are frequently updated for personal and enterprise accounts. Your number carries over and past messages appear automatically.

Google Fi

Meanwhile, the company now says, “Hangouts no longer works for SMS/MMS text messages, voice calls, or voicemail with Google Fi.” Support for using the classic Hangouts app for MVNO calling and texting was originally supposed to end in January, but Google delayed that by two months to give subscribers more time to switch to Google Messages.

Messages for web replicates the multi-device aspects — including checking voicemail, texting, and calling on a computer — of classic Hangouts for Android users only. SMS/MMS history is similarly transferred over, but there is no cross-device iOS solution now that classic Hangouts is gone. 

Following these two changes, classic Hangouts is only available for chatting with individuals or groups — video calling has been largely moved to Meet. Meanwhile, users since last month have been able to start using Google Chat.