Hangouts Chat

25 'Hangouts Chat' stories March 2017 - April 2020

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[Update: Store renames] Google trademarks ‘Google Meet’ and ‘Google Chat,’ support page backs change

Stephen Hall Apr 15 2020 - 1:31 pm PT

Hangouts Chat

Hangouts Meet just got its much-needed rebrand to Google Meet amidst the surging popularity of videoconferencing tools in general. Alongside a trademark for that term, there’s another Hangouts product whose fate has yet to be decided. Hangouts Chat, the teams-focused Slack competitor from the Mountain View company, might also be getting a rebrand that does away with the troublesome Hangouts branding.

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Messages in Hangouts Chat can now be forwarded to Gmail

Abner Li Apr 9 2020 - 10:55 am PT

This week saw Hangouts Meet become Google Meet amid a surge in video conferencing usage. Hangouts Chat is picking up a new feature that lets you forward messages to Gmail.

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Google Tasks for Android hints at Hangouts Chat integration [APK Insight]

Abner Li Jan 21 2020 - 11:26 am PT

Google Tasks Hangouts Chat

With the launch of Gmail’s Material Theme revamp on the web in 2018, Tasks was reintroduced as a standalone to-do app. Google Tasks now appears to be readying Hangouts Chat integration.

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Hangouts Chat gets bottom bar redesign with ‘People’ and ‘Rooms’

Abner Li Sep 24 2019 - 1:06 pm PT

Hangouts Chat

With the classic Hangouts transition for G Suite customers delayed until 2020, Google has more time to add functionality to Hangouts Chat and reach feature parity. The Android and iOS apps today are getting a bottom bar redesign that splits “People” and Rooms.”

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‘Out of office’ Google Calendar reminders coming to Gmail, Hangouts Chat

Abner Li Aug 29 2019 - 11:00 am PT

Gmail

At Cloud Next 2019 in April, Google announced a slew of upcoming Gmail and Hangouts Chats features to help boost productivity. “Out of office” Calendar integration will begin rolling out to those two apps in the coming weeks.

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Google details what’s next for Hangouts Chat: Guest access, Meet/Voice integration, PWA to replace Electron

Abner Li Apr 10 2019 - 2:25 pm PT

Hangouts Chat

Google announced this morning that Hangouts Chat is coming to Gmail. That integration was teased earlier this year as one of the legacy features coming from classic Hangouts. At Cloud Next 2019, Google detailed public Guest access, Meet/Voice integration, and a Progress Web Apps to replace Electron clients.

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Hangouts Chat coming to Gmail as Hangouts Meet adds live captioning & public streams

Abner Li Apr 10 2019 - 9:00 am PT

Hangouts Chat for Gmail

This October, Google is retiring Hangouts “classic” for G Suite enterprise users. Ahead of that, a number of legacy features will be added to the Hangouts Chat and Meet replacements. At Cloud Next 2019, Google announced Chat integration in Gmail, while public streaming and live captioning are coming to Hangouts Meet.

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Google revamps Hangouts Chat side panel, mobile homepage w/ People, Rooms, and Bots

Abner Li Apr 4 2019 - 9:10 am PT

Hangouts Chat

Earlier this week, we spotted Hangouts Chat in the G Suite panel ahead of Cloud Next 2019. Before the conference next week, Google’s latest enterprise messaging app is redesigning its side panel to help users keep better track of ongoing chats.

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Hangouts Chat spotted in G Suite side panel, could be upcoming Gmail integration

Abner Li Apr 2 2019 - 9:05 am PT

Hangouts Chat G Suite integration

With the new Gmail for web last April, Google introduced a “quick-access side panel” with widgets for Calendar, Keep, and Tasks. It has since been added to other G Suite apps like Drive and Docs on the web. The next service to make an appearance in the side panel could be Hangouts Chat.

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Hangouts Chat

Hangouts Chat adds option to delete direct message conversation history

Abner Li Mar 11 2019 - 12:42 pm PT

After adding typing indicators in direct messages last month, Hangouts Chat now has the ability to delete 1:1 conversation history. This straightforward functionality for Google’s enterprise-focussed messaging solution is already live on Android, and coming to all platforms.

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Hangouts Chat

Hangouts Chat adds typing indicators in direct messages, but don’t be that person

Abner Li Feb 13 2019 - 2:08 pm PT

Google is set to deprecate Hangouts classic later this year and move all G Suite users to Hangouts Chat. Ahead of that transition, Google is porting over legacy features, like today’s addition of typing indicators.

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Google to transition consumer Hangouts ‘classic’ users to Chat & Meet after G Suite upgrade later this year

Stephen Hall Jan 22 2019 - 9:00 am PT

Hangouts shutdown

Alongside initial details on the transition of G Suite users from classic Hangouts to Hangouts Chat & Meet, Google is also giving us just a little bit more info on the transition from ‘classic’ Hangouts to free Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet for consumers.

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Google details Hangouts Chat & Meet upgrade timeline for G Suite ahead of October ‘classic’ retirement

Stephen Hall Jan 22 2019 - 8:59 am PT

Hangouts Chat

After our report last year that Google plans to shut down classic Hangouts in 2020, the company announced that it was “fully committed” to supporting classic Hangouts users until it completed a “successful” migration to Hangouts Chat and Meet. The company didn’t detail a timeline for the Hangouts transition then, but now that day has come — at least for G Suite users.

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Hangouts Chat

[Update: Meet] Google combining classic Hangouts, Hangouts Chat settings for G Suite

Abner Li Jan 7 2019 - 2:36 pm PT

Classic Hangouts was originally set to be deprecated in October 2019 for G Suite users. In August, Google delayed the transition for enterprise to June 2020 as the slow migration process continues. For admins today, Google is combining classic Hangouts and Chat policy management.

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Hands-on: Hangouts Chat is still far from ready to replace ‘classic Hangouts’ for consumers

Kyle Bradshaw Dec 8 2018 - 12:33 pm PT

Hangouts Chat Hands On

With all the buzz recently around (the recently dubbed) “Hangouts classic” shutting down, in favor of Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet, we took some time as a group to give Hangouts Chat a hands-on trial. Needless to say, things didn’t go smoothly.

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Say goodbye? I say Allo: A brief look at the past, present, and future of Google messaging

Abner Li Dec 7 2018 - 12:33 pm PT

Over the past week, the narrative around Google’s messaging and communication services has been defined by a spate of planned deprecations — both of which 9to5Google first reported about. While older services will be “sunset,” the company’s vision for consumers hasn’t changed much since earlier this year, revolving around RCS “Chat” and Google Duo video calling.

However, complicating this dual-service future now is the newly-revealed fact that the enterprise-focused Hangouts Chat and Meet will also be available to consumers, and that Google Voice is still an active service. This is just the latest in Google’s tangled and sometimes incoherent strategy for simply saying “Hello.”

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Hangouts Chat

Hangouts Chat rolling out Smart Reply to mobile and web apps

Abner Li Dec 6 2018 - 10:11 am PT

Yesterday, Google confirmed that it was sunsetting Allo, while focusing on Hangouts Chat and Meet for the enterprise rather than the “classic” iteration. To reaffirm that commitment, the Slack competitor today is adding Smart Reply.

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Google officially confirms Allo shutdown for 2019, move away from ‘classic Hangouts’

Abner Li Dec 5 2018 - 6:29 pm PT

Hangouts shutdown

Over the past several days, 9to5Google reported that Google was planning to move away from “classic Hangouts” and sunset Google Allo. Amid the discussion about the company’s messaging future, Google today clarified its strategy, and published a definite blog post confirming our two reports.

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Hangouts Chat

[Update: Google statement] Hangouts Chat & Hangouts Meet will open to consumers before ‘Hangouts classic’ shuts down

Kyle Bradshaw Dec 1 2018 - 12:34 pm PT

Things are shaking up again in the ever-quaking world of Google’s endless messaging apps. Yesterday, we reported that Google’s Hangouts messaging service would shut down some time in 2020. While one Googler has refuted that timeline, he’s not denied that what he calls the “classic version of Hangouts” is on the way out, and one step of this process is to open Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat to consumers.

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Hangouts Chat

Hangouts Chat adds notification snoozing with return time visible to other users

Abner Li Sep 18 2018 - 3:29 pm PT

Google’s Slack competitor is gaining the ability to snooze notifications. A staple feature of any enterprise messaging app, the implementation in Hangouts Chat conveniently alerts other users when you’ll return.

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Hangouts Chat

Hangouts Chat adds emoji reactions to web and mobile apps

Abner Li Aug 27 2018 - 10:42 am PT

After gaining a Google Material Theme last month, Hangouts Chat is getting social with emoji reactions. The new feature is rolling out now on both the web and mobile version of Google’s enterprise-focused communication tool.

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Hangouts Chat on the web updated w/ various Google Material Theme tweaks

Abner Li Jul 20 2018 - 9:05 am PT

Hangouts Chat is Google’s Slack competitor for enterprise and businesses. Made available to G Suite accounts earlier this year, Google is now rolling out a Material Theme redesign for the service.

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Google Drive, Gmail, and Hangouts Chat integrations coming to Dropbox

Abner Li Mar 1 2018 - 9:38 am PT

Google Dropbox

Following its IPO filing last week, Dropbox today announced a new partnership with Google Cloud to integrate G Suite with the former’s platform. Integrations range from productivity and communication services, including with the just announced Hangouts Chat.
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Hangouts Chat w/ bots and deep Google integration available today for all G Suite users

Abner Li Feb 28 2018 - 9:31 am PT

Last March, Google revamped Hangouts for the enterprise by splitting it into separate Meet and Chat apps. The former is for video conferencing and has been available for several months now, while the latter messaging component is launching today.

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