Google Hangouts was a cross-platforminstant messaging (IM) service developed by Google. It originally was a feature of Google+, becoming a standalone product in 2013, when Google also began integrating features from Google+ Messenger and Google Talk into Hangouts. Google then began integrating features of Google Voice, its Internet telephony product, into Hangouts, stating that Hangouts was designed to be "the future" of Voice.
In 2017, Google began developing two separate enterprise communication products: Google Meet and Google Chat,[8] as a part of its Google Workspace office suite. Google began transitioning Workspace users from Hangouts to Meet and Chat in June 2020.[9][10][11] Subsequently, Gmail users transitioned from Hangouts to Meet and Chat during 2021[12] and the Hangouts service discontinued on November 1, 2022.
^"Google is making Meet free for everyone". Techcrunch. April 29, 2020. Archived from the original on April 29, 2020. Retrieved April 29, 2020. For consumer Hangouts, which has been on life support for a long time, this move may accelerate its deprecation.