The days of the Google Hangouts application are numbered

More than a year ago, Google stopped supporting its Google Hangouts instant messaging application. Skype's direct competition did not turn out to be as well received as expected and in a short time it became one of those applications that we saw pre-installed on our phone but never got to use because we had already downloaded the one that everyone uses. WhatsApp. Not even Telegram, with its enormous variety of functions that have yet to land on WhatsApp, has been able to unseat the powerful tool owned by Mark Zuckerberg.

Goodbye to Google Hangouts in home use

And if last year Google marked the beginning of the end of the Hangouts application, now we know that, at some indeterminate moment in 2020, it will cease to exist. Google's first intention to save its application was to dedicate it to business users, with Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet, leaving Google Duo for private uses. But sources close to Google affirm that the company will directly shelve its application, for private use, in little more than a year, so we recommend that you look for an alternative, in case you were using it regularly. Hangouts for Business will continue to exist as part of its integrated business tools service, G Suite.

To this day, the Hangouts app remains the most visible option for starting a conversation through Gmail.As indicated by the informant source, the application can be downloaded, as usual, from its page in the Google Play Store although, according to user comments, it already shows signs of being out of date with the new times as well as common errors in its use. Hangouts will continue to be part of G Suite. Hangouts Chat will closely resemble the Slack communication platform, a place where different work groups can communicate through channels created for that purpose. On the other hand, Hangouts Meet will continue to be Skype's main competitor, making it easier for users to hold video conferences.