Back in November, it was reported that Google is going to retire its Hangouts messaging service, replacing it with Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet. Google confirmed the news shortly after, but today, the firm provided some additional details for G Suite users.
On April 16, there will be changes that require action from administrators, and from then until September, additional features from Hangouts will be made available in Hangouts Chat. In October, classic Hangouts will be retired.
These dates are specific to G Suite users, and Google did say that it"s going to continue to support classic Hangouts for consumers, for now. After Hangouts is retired for businesses, Google will begin the transition to Hangouts Chat and Meet for consumers, and the firm promised to provide a more specific timeline at a later date.
Google also said that all G Suite users can transition to Chat right now if they want. Of course, there"s more functionality that needs to be added for feature parity between April and September.