
After several delays, Workspace customers (the paid business version of Google apps) finally had Hangouts removed in March 2022, but regular consumers can still switch between Google Chat and Hangouts. Google announced in 2018 that Hangouts would eventually be shut down. The service fell out of favor with Google's legendarily fickle messaging strategy in 2016 with the launch of Google Allo. As Android's default messaging service, Hangouts amassed 5 billion downloads, and at one point, it even handled Android SMS duties, just like Apple's iMessage. The service launched in 2013 as an in-place upgrade to Google Talk.

Further Reading A decade and a half of instability: The history of Google messaging appsThe shutdown of Hangouts has been a long time coming.
