Google removes Hangouts app from Play Store and Apple App Store – Times of India

Google has removed the classic Hangouts app from app stores. The app is no longer available on Google Play Store and Apple App Store and does not appear in search results on either of the platforms. Those who have already downloaded the app on their smartphone can continue using it. But most likely the days are outnumbered for them too as Google plans to replace classic Hangouts with Google Chat for Workspace customers.
The change was first spotted by 9to5Google which says that Google would disable the old Hangouts mobile apps in the coming weeks. The transition started with the tech giant removing the Hangouts app for new users on iPad and iPhone. It was then available for Android users which eventually was removed later.
Google has announced its plans to replace Hangouts with Google Chats for a long time. It had earlier set the date for migration away from Classic Hangouts to Google Chats in March for Workspace (previously G Suite) users. Google was supposed to start the migration in October 2019 but the multi-stage plan did not begin until 2020.
Earlier this month, Google added more capabilities to Chats and Spaces. It rolled out an update for Gmail users on Android that brings new status bar icons, which help users to identify whether the message has come on Chats or Spaces. Previously the messages that came on Chat (which is one-to-one conversations) and Spaces (which is like Slack or any work platform), were the same. However, with the new update, the display icons for both will be a little different.