There is no hiding the fact that Google’s messaging stack is a disaster. You have Meet, Chat, Hangouts, and Duo to serve different purposes and cater to different audiences. Due to the pandemic, Google opened up its video conferencing app, Meet, to everyone for free earlier this year. And now, Google Chat will also get the same treatment as the company plans to phase out Hangouts starting next year.
Some of the features in Hangouts will, however, begin to disappear as we get closer to the transition period. Google will stop allowing Fi users to manage calls and texts from Hangouts, along with the removal of Google Voice, early next year.
