TL; DR
- Google is now prompting Hangouts users to switch to chat.
- You can still use the messaging app, but some features will be retired on August 16th.
- Hangouts will be completely retired in late 2021.
You can still use Hangouts if you’re not ready to switch to Chat at this point. However, you may not have much choice in the near future. Google warned Workspace users in July that they could potentially lose several Hangouts features on August 16 if they haven’t migrated by then. For example, if your organization leaves Chat Preferred enabled in Workspace, the Hangouts mobile apps and Chrome extension will be lost.
All of your Hangouts conversations are available by the time you take the plunge.
There is still no absolute deadline for migrating Hangouts users to chat beyond the vague target of “late 2021”. Nonetheless, it’s clear that Google really, really wants to pull the Hangouts name back and consolidate its often-scattered messaging efforts.