Since last year we have understood that among the plans of Google there was the definitive archiving of Hangouts in favor of Chat and Meet , the first dedicated to messaging and the second to video calls. In the last few hours important news for the distribution of Chat have emerged.
While we are now familiar with Google Meet, which became fully operational since last year for all Google users, the Chat service has remained in the shadows. This is likely to change soon, as Google has just started rolling out a preview of Google Chat to a larger number of users . Access can be done from the platform desktop , from the app Android and iOS .
As you can see from the screenshots in the gallery below , at the first start of Chat users will be greeted by a warning regarding the preview version of the messaging service, in relation to the fact that some bugs may be encountered. However, the Chat interface on desktop seems complete to us: in the sidebar we find the sections dedicated to single chats, to group chats and the links to Meet for start instant or scheduled meetings.
The messaging interface includes, in addition to the discounted text box , quick links to attach Drive files or Calendar events . The Android app offers a very similar interface, adapted to a smartphone display.
From the point of view of contents , Chat should synchronize in real time with Hangouts, which is still active. This has not happened to us yet, and we do not know if it is a bug or a slowness in synchronization. However, we expect Google to release new updates for Chat and its distribution will extend to all Google users over the next few weeks. At this address you can try to access the desktop version of the service, while below you will find the download badges for the Android apps and iOS.
