Starting next month, Google Workspace users will no longer have the classic Hangouts messaging service as part of the transition to Google Chat.
Google has announced that it will make Google Chat the default chat application from March 22nd.
This means that users will be redirected to Chat when they try to visit Hangouts in Gmail for the web or when they try to use the old Hangouts mobile app.
Switching from Google Hangouts to Google Chat is Google's latest step in the process of evolving its messaging strategy.
Google Chat should not be confused with the GChat service, which is the unofficial name for Google Talk, which was officially shut down in 2017 and was replaced by Hangouts.
For now, this change will only apply to Workspace, G Suite Basic and Business users.
Google previously mentioned that free Google Accounts will later go through the same process of switching to Google Chat.
