Hangouts
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Screenshot
Google Hangouts running on Android Lollipop
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| Developer(s) | |
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| Initial release | May 15, 2013 |
| Stable release |
Android: 7.0; iOS: 12.5.0 / Android: January 29, 2016; iOS October 3, 2016
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| Development status | Active |
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| Type | Communication software |
| License | Freeware |
| Website | hangouts |
Google Hangouts is a communication platform developed by Google which includes instant messaging, video chat, SMS and VOIP features. It replaces three messaging products that Google had implemented concurrently within its services, including Google Talk, Google+ Messenger (formerly: Huddle), and Hangouts, a video chat system present within Google+. Google has also stated that Hangouts is designed to be "the future" of its telephony product, Google Voice, and integrated some of the capabilities of Google Voice into Hangouts.
Prior to the launch of Hangouts, Google had maintained several similar, but technologically separate messaging services and platforms across its suite of products. These have included the enterprise-oriented Google Talk (based on XMPP), Google+ Messenger, and the Hangouts feature of Google+, which provided chat, voice, videoconferencing features. However, its increasingly fragmented and non-unified suite of messaging offerings was also facing growing competition from services such as Facebook Messenger, iMessage, and WhatsApp. A decision was made to scrap the existing Google Talk system and code a new messaging product through a collaboration with multiple development teams.
Following reports that the new service would be known as "Babel", the service officially launched as Hangouts during the Google I/O conference on May 15, 2013.
On February 16, 2015, Google announced it would be discontinuing Google Talk and instructed users to migrate to the Hangouts app on the Chrome browser platform.
In January 2016 Google updated the app to tell people not to use it for SMS, recommending to instead use Google's "Messenger" SMS app.
In May 2016, at Google I/O 2016, Google announced two new apps: Google Allo, an AI-based messaging app and Google Duo, a video calling app. Google has since confirmed that the new apps will not replace Hangouts - Hangouts will remain a separate product.
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Wikipedia