Google Hangouts

Google puts an end to Google Hangouts once and for all

Google Hangouts, a text, video and voice chat app built into Gmail, is finally being shut down today. As announced earlier this year, Google is switching Hangouts users over to Google Chat, the compan

Gmail’s redesigned interface including Chat and Meet is now the new default

Gmail is now rolling out a new user interface that will show Chat and Meet sections in the side pane by default — unless you’ve already disabled them. Google introduced this new integrated vie

Google starts prompting remaining Hangouts users to move to Chat

Google has announced that starting today, people who are still using Hangouts on mobile will see an in-app prompt asking them to move to Chat in Gmail or the Chat app. The company says the new prompt

Google will let everyone migrate from Hangouts to Chat for free in 2021

Google’s strategy around its messaging apps is nothing if not messy right now (hello Hangouts, Meet, Chat, Duo and Co.), but it looks like things will get a bit easier come next year. We already

Google brings Meet to Gmail on mobile

Google today announced a deeper integration between Gmail on mobile and its Meet video conferencing service. Now, if you use Gmail on Android or iOS and somebody sends you a link to a Meet event, you

Google’s Duo video chat app gets a family mode with doodles and masks

Google today launched an update to its Duo video chat app (which you definitely shouldn’t confuse with Hangouts or Google Meet, Google’s other video, audio and text chat apps). There are p

Google Meet launches improved Zoom-like tiled layout, low-light mode and more

Google Meet, like all video chat products, is seeing rapid growth in user numbers right now, so it’s no surprise that Google is trying to capitalize on this and is quickly iterating on its produ

Videoconferencing apps saw a record 62M downloads during one week in March

Work-from-home policies, social distancing and government lockdowns have increased the demand for video conferencing apps, for both business and personal use. According to a new report from App Annie,

What to consider when employees need to start working remotely

Traditional ways of working may be faced with upheaval in coming months, so if you want your business to continue operating, start working on these issues now.

Google pitches free trials of its enterprise G Suite conferencing tools as part of a coronavirus response

Google said in a blog post that it would roll out free access to advanced Hangouts Meet video-conferencing capabilities to all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers globally as the company pitch

Classic Hangouts will hang in there a bit longer

Earlier this year, Google said it would transition all Hangouts users on G Suite to Hangouts Chat and Meet by October 2019 and then retire the classic version of Hangouts. But a lot of G Suite users l

Google will start retiring Hangouts for G Suite users in October

Google’s strategy around its consumer messaging services remains baffling, especially since it killed off Allo (yet kept Duo on life support). Today, the company clarified the timeline of the tr

Google raises its G Suite prices

Google today announced that it is raising the price of its G Suite subscriptions for the first time. In the U.S., the prices of G Suite Basic and G Suite Business editions will increase by $1 and $2 p

Google is killing off Allo, its latest messaging app flop

It’s official: Google is killing off Allo. The messaging app was only launched in September 2016, but it was pretty much flawed from the word go, with limited usage. Google was, once again, pai

Hangouts Chat, Google’s Slack competitor, gets emoji reactions

Hangouts Chat, Google’s business-focused Slack competitor, is getting emoji reactions. That’s a feature that Slack has long had, so if anything, today’s move makes Hangouts Chat even

Google rolls out Messages on the web for Android users

Messages, Google’s more recent focus for its scattered messaging efforts following its decision to “pause” work on Allo, is now available for web users. The company announced that it

Google starts migrating all G Suite users from Hangouts to Meet

Google today announced that starting now, it is moving all of its G Suite users who follow its recommended schedule from its Hangouts video chat service to Hangouts Meet, the more enterprise-ready ver

Google goes after Slack and splits Hangouts into Chat and Meet

Google's messaging strategy can be confusing, but if there's one thing that's clear after today's Cloud Next keynote, it's that the company is doubling down on the idea that Hangouts is its enterprise

Google Hangouts API gets hung out to dry

Draw with your face? Conference call ping pong? Not any more. Google today quietly revealed that it will shut down the Hangouts API, preventing new apps from being built and shutting off existing apps

Google buys Sweden’s Limes Audio to boost Hangouts voice quality

In a blog post, Google announced the acquisition of Limes Audio, a Swedish company that focuses on improving the quality of voice calls. The 10-year-old company, headquartered in Umeå, Sweden, also
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