That’s it, it’s the end of Hangouts. Google’s messaging service is living its last hours on Android and iOS smartphones, while many users are unable to access the app. Mountain View also notes that all messages will be automatically transferred to its successor, Google Chat. If this is not your case, we explain how you can find all your messages before the definitive shutdown of the service.
This is a migration that was announced in early 2019. That year, Google revealed that its new Chat and Meet apps were set to replace Hangouts in the coming years. And, indeed, a year later, the exchange of conversations begins. As early as 2021, Google has started encouraging its users to switch to its new messaging services.
Today, the latter is entering its final phase. In fact, recently, the app no longer works on some Android and iOS smartphones. When we try to open it, we get the following message: “It’s Chat Time on Gmail”, Effectively forcing users to refresh. Once this screen appears, you won’t be able to access their conversations in Hangouts.
Saying goodbye to Google Hangouts
Note that this first phase of the shutdown concerns older versions of Hangouts that haven’t been updated in a while. Also, the latter has been unavailable on Google Play and App Store for months. Additionally, the Mountain View company has shut down a Chrome extension dedicated to messaging. In the coming weeks, the tab in Gmail will disappear, marking the end of the mail service.
Related topic: Hangouts Meet is being replaced by Google Meet, and the Hangouts brand will disappear a little more
Finally, the Hangouts site will be available until October 2022. After this date, it will stop working. However, users can download their conversations indefinitely. Because, in fact, Google mentions it “Some conversations or parts of conversations will not be automatically transferred from Hangouts to Chat. We will email affected users with more information by September 2022.
How to Recover All Your Hangouts Conversations
Thus, Google specifies how its conversations can be downloaded to affected users. Here is the process to follow:
- Visit the website Google Takeout
- If you haven’t already, please log in google account
- Among the available applications, Select Hangouts Deselect the others
- At the very bottom of the page, click Next step.
- Select Reception system Messages in the drop-down menu
- Then select how many times you want to download the backup. In this case, it is better to choose A download.
- Please choose file typeYou need to download
- Click on Create an export
The site will create a copy of your Hangouts conversations, which you can find in a folder in the format you configured. Once the process is complete, you will receive an email to notify you that the file is available for download. All you need to do is download the said file to find all your messages.
Finally, Google addresses it “You can send messages between Google Chat and Google Hangouts. Synchronization is built in between Chat and Hangouts so that when Hangouts data is deleted, the corresponding chat data is also deleted. If you want to delete data from both, delete data from Chat or Hangouts only”.
Source: Google
Beatrice Ashford is a contributor at Nintendo-power.com, covering a wide range of topics including news, politics, business, technology, sport, entertainment, and lifestyle. She focuses on delivering clear, balanced reporting and useful information that helps readers stay informed about current events and emerging developments. Her work highlights stories that matter to everyday audiences, with an emphasis on accuracy, relevance, and accessible journalism that keeps readers connected to the issues shaping the world around them.