If you use Google Hangouts to chat, get ready to say goodbye to the service. Google announced plans to kill Hangouts starting early next year. The company will move all Hangouts users over to Google Chat.
Chat was previously available only for paying customers of Google Workspace. Starting next year, Chat will be free as part of Gmail and as a stand-alone app for your phone.
The company said it would automatically migrate your Hangouts conversations, contacts, and saved history to Chat.