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Google has been trying to transition the general consumer away from Hangouts for quite some time, whether it be through Allo or Android Messages, the desire to close shop has been evident for years.
But the user base still must be pretty strong with Hangouts, so it’s taking the company a bit more time to wind things down. For instance, Google might want to shut up shop right now, but, according to unnamed sources speaking with 9to5Google, the company will be waiting until 2020 to end the service for general consumers. Google will still be using Hangouts as an enterprise service, just as it has been since last spring.
As it stands right now, Hangouts is still quite prominent in some areas. That includes Gmail on the web, where Hangouts is still the default chat option. And the app is still technically available to download and install from Google Play, too. Still, despite the fact that Hangouts has been winding down for quite some time, it’s good to see that Google is giving the users out there some time to move on if they haven’t already.
It has been a long time coming, but, inevitable. Hangouts was a solid service in its heyday, and some would have liked to have seen it just become the default option for communicating on Android devices, but Google had other plans with Allo and now Chat/Android Messages.
Are you still using Hangouts?
[via 9to5Google]
