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  • We need an app that only allows us to type the letters “a” and “A”. Another that allows only “b” and “B”. Then if we get all the apps, we can make a word.

  • Hangouts has everything I want in a single app. SMS, Video, Hangouts, Phone. ALL accessible via cell, tablet, pc with location awareness so we can quickly go between devices, and have it all historically recorded. We use it here at our company of over 100 people. It serves all the needs we have. I sure hope they dont’ break it.

    P.s. we have NO DESIRE to use as “collaborative ware”. sounds good for Large business, but off SMBs, there are more efficient way to accomplish.

  • Dear Google,
    You have a trust issue and it’s getting worse with every new “messaging” app you keep introducing.
    Why in the world would a business switch to your “new” “messaging” service if you keep discontinuing/stopping support/moving on from your “messaging” apps?
    Here’s a pointer:
    – Pick a freaking name and stick with it… you know… build a thing called “brand recognition”.
    – Have distinct direction(s)… One for consumer and one for business. They should NOT intercept and must be managed separately.
    – Don’t assume “light” = good. Especially when it comes to consumer. Different consumers want different features.
    – SUPPORT SUPPORT SUPPPORT

  • Make Allo available on everything. Support SMS, Support Backups. Then ill get everyone to switch to it!!

  • Judging by the comments so far it’s safe to say no one is really grasping the direction Google is going here… Hangouts is now business oriented. I expect Allo to become the chat platform.

  • I don’t like the new google. I still use the old googles apps like gmail, calendar, drive, keep.
    But i am thoroughly done with new googles new apps. Specially anything related to chat. I’ve been waiting forever for googles answer to whatsapp/fb messenger/imessege…..and its a total mess. I’m …just…done. No more apologies…or downloading the new stuff.

  • I can’t take it anymore– so over being a Google Hangouts apologist with my friends.

    • I only use it with my brother, otherwise everyone else I message on Viber. Done and done. I’m done with having 30 apps for various people too…if you don’t have either of those, you’re dead to me! Dead!

  • Back in 2013 I pushed all my friends and family to start using Hangouts. This departure by the Hangouts team is probably the sign that it’s time to move on. I’m in the market for a new platform to be encouraging people to use. Signal and Wire are top prospects. We’ll see.

  • What a disaster at google with all the apps they have for “communication”. Get it together.

  • I use Hangouts on Fi so I have desktop and multi-device integration. Are they going to roll those features into Messages?

    • Doubt it. Fi things will probably go into the new Voice app, where it should be IMO.

      • And what about RCS, SMS, and MMS? I don’t use Hangouts for voice. That’s what the phone app is for.

        • RCS, SMS and MMS for your carrier number is in Messages. SMS, MMS, voice calls, and RCS (if it’s coming) for Fi/Voice would be in Voice.

          • You mean hangouts? You can’t use voice when on project fi. You need hangouts to access voicemails and integrated messaging. It’s just there for provisioning. You may want to bone up on project fi.

          • I have a separate GV account on my phone that I do use while on Fi. Fi also rings through GV on my other devices.

  • Dear Google, Please don’t screw up the hangouts app my kids use to chat with their tween friends on their wifi-only MotoG4 phones (no cell service). If you’re smart, you’ll try to keep them in the google ecosystem. Do you really want them to need whatsapp?

  • This is exactly what I’ve been asking for. I never video call or voice call in hangouts, but I do use the chat function. With a big clunky app, stripping the unused features and making them either another app or an add on makes it better!

    • Except it doesn’t appear that way. It appears to be two big clunky apps now. One with a bunch more features you won’t use in the “chat” app. It’s for business and is just like Slack (only different, only the same, only different). Google wants you and anyone you Hangouts with to switch to using Allo and Duo. Weird thing is, Allo and Duo are one to one and Hangouts was where you could have a group chat with 10 friends. So google is leaving you with NO method to group chat if you’re not a business customer that wants Slack but doesn’t want Slack.

      • If Google really wanted us to chat on Allo, they should’ve made it available on tablets, PC and MACs and not on phones only.

        • Totally agree… I think the final push from Hangouts​ to Allo will be some time after the Allo web client is out.

    • Ummmm, if you don’t use those features then don’t use Hangouts. Simple, isn’t it?

  • i feel like a lot of people here don’t understand the useful side of this. I work in silicon valley, as an app designer and for all of the companies ive worked for, we’ve used google calendar, and hangouts for video conferencing meetings. on top of that we also have a messaging client we use.

    for me, and others in fields that have similar requirements, what google is doing is actually pretty smart and welcomed imo. We’re already using google to book rooms and meetings to then lead into video calls, and honestly, id much rather have it all in one place and not have to refer back to hipchat -_-

    now for general consumer, obviously this isnt for you, nor is it meant to be. i wouldnt use it. hell i dont even use allow or duo. but i think for the business folk this is good.

  • This is dumb (I get the corporate angle blah blah). This was a chat app with video integrated. It was great. Then they created anoyher texting app. Then another messaging app and another video chat app. Then they break up the only all inclusive app! Why?!?!

    • Does Slack or Microsoft Teams have video chat? Also it’s more than just video callings, it’s a meeting. Companies that use tools like this appreciate simple and easy to use tools.

      Want a video meeting? Okay, lets use Meet, as everyone has easy access to it, and we can just email the links for the meeting to the customers to join us.

      An all-in-one app is not always a good thing.

      • I get it’s for business…Now. but it wasn’t. Why not have it in one app. Why is it so bad?

  • I don’t think many of the people here actually understand what these apps are for. Chat is going to be the Google competitor to Slack and Microsoft’s Teams. It’s not just a regular chat app platform. It’s business oriented, period. Meet is business oriented. I highly doubt these will come to consumers, so if you don’t use G Suite for work, don’t worry about it. Yes it’s interesting, but don’t be upset by it.

    As far as Allow and consumer Hangouts is concerned, I feeling is that they will make advances in Allo, giving us a web UI and history. They will stop supporting Hangouts and for those who still use Project Fi, the Voice app is updated now so use that when Hangouts gets depreciated.

    • The Google Voice app works with Fi? I thought the only way Project Fi people could text was through hangouts? Also, Duo only lets you video call one on one right? So where is the group video chat for non-business customers?

      • You are right with Project Fi. Other people are ignorant of the service and Google products.

    • The Google Voice app is for users of Google Voice. Users of Project Fi can either route their SMS and MMS through Hangouts (using data, and available anywhere Hangouts is supported) or through traditional SMS means (they only come to your phone, and in whatever SMS app is your default).

    • Except allo is no where near what whatsapp/telegram/imessege/facebook messenger can do…so i will still worry thank you very much.
      They take away more than they give…its a one step forward two steps back with them.

    • Still can’t use Google voice in project fi. Need hangouts. May want to do research before a rant.

    • Google would say “Challenge accepted” and crush them with pure code, whereas Microsoft would just buy them.

      • I doubt this will catch on like the original hangouts did. People don’t understand what to use for what with Google. They are now going to have 5 different ways to communicate with people and I don’t even know what to use for what.

        Who’s at the helm of their chats? A spastic 4 year old on a sugar high?

        • If you are a business that already uses GSuite and has a Google Apps for Enterprise subscription this is a Hangouts Chat and Meet are good to have as it prevents subscribers from using a competitor’s products to fill gaps.

  • Umm, what? I really hope that the current Hangouts app, which itself replaced gTalk, continues to work and maybe just gets renamed Hangouts Chat instead, maybe later on they can rename it again to gchat, the name everyone called it anyway

  • I was one of the stupid stubborn ones who stuck with Google Voice since Froyo. I installed Hangout when it came out, but it was slow and buggy, with the only redeeming quality being allowing for MMS on my google voice number which is my primary number. But I ended up just not using MMS – for me Hangout was that bad.

    I guess now it’s come full circle 😛 The new Voice app has worked great, although it is a bit laggy. I guess as long as Google doesn’t kill the Google Voice app/service, this might simply things for me a bit – no more hangout!

  • I feel like Google’s apps are like a hydra – kill one and two more grow in its place!

  • Hey dl what’s with sensorimg and blocking my past comments with bad words then using fu*king in the articles? I could care less what words you use but at least he consistent about it.

  • I’m still confused each and every yr when they say X product does this, then next yr, Y product does what X did but with a new name.

  • I want an app I can easily launch into a voice call, video chat, or send an instant message with. I want this app to work on my phone, my email website, my tablet, and any other communication device I might acquire later. I want this app to be tired to my phone number or email address, or both. It should be something that is cross platform so everybody can use this. Hangouts did all of this. The could have done a better job getting it to tie in with your carrier phone number instead of google voice number but it still worked just fine. I dont want to have to download 5 different apps on my phone to call them quickly. sent a message or launch a video chat, along with different apps to do that same things with my coworkers or clients. Its like google was on the right path, figured it all out and then decided nahhhhhhhhhhhhh were gonna try our best to screw this all up and make it as confusing as possible for everyone who wants to use our services.

    • Aaamennnn. Except for I think Google decided “ahhhh dang it Hangouts is getting too much criticism, people don’t like it, we gotta figure something else out cuz this ain’t wirkin”

      • I know, when it would have been much better for all of us if they thought “Hey this app is a good start but its not perfect, lets make it better.”

      • Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !mj274d:
        On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
        !mj274d:
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  • Yay, another service splitting up into even more services so there are more things in the future for Google to shut down.

  • WTF are they doing.. seriously WTF.. I would love to talk to the person in charge of their chats division and instead of trying to reason with them, slap the sh!t out of them. Allo sucks no one freaking uses it because the desktop client either sucks or is non-existent.. and no one want to have to keep migrating clients to get everyone they know to do that and then confuse everyone about everything.. it’s just insane.

    I wonder if Google is the best place to work at because you can literally do the stupidest thing in the world and not get fired.

    • There’s no one boss. Google is literally fragmented divisions under one umbrella doing their own things.

  • I feel like I’m the only one that understands what Google is doing, like I’m not confused at all… I mean, they told us exactly what they’re doing, now whether you agree with it or not is different story.

      • I think it’s only confusing for those of us who’ve been following them and are using (or trying to use) their communication platforms. But for someone just now looking at this, it’s a more clear picture:

        Allo = casual and fun messaging
        Hangouts Chat = business/enterprise messaging (and the other Slack-type stuff)

        Duo = casual and fun video calling
        Hangouts Meet = business/enterprise video conferencing

        They have their work cut out for them now because now they need to ensure you can access all of these services on whatever device you are on (Windows/Mac/Android/iOS/ChromeOS).

        • I got that. But Hangout is still available for everyone. And where do you put Messages? If Google would retire Hangout (as it is) and replaces it by Allo that would have Messages merge into it with a desktop client (to replace the Hangout desktop that, for example, I use in Inbox), then I would get it. Meet, Chat, Allo (with Messages and desktop app) and Duo would make sense to me.

          • They may still do that. Obviously they’re not just going to drop hangout right here and now. They are going to have to gradually phase it out.

          • Agreed. I just don’t like the order in which they do things. You end up with duplicates for some time.

          • That is most likely their endgame, but they should have communicated it better like “The consumer version of Hangouts will stop receiving new features outside of bug fixes as we transition the platform to meet the needs of our Enterprise users and we migrate some of the consumer features to Allo.”

          • Agreed. it was the same with Picassa, Gallery, and Google + photos. Knowing the end they would end up with Google Photos, it would have made the transition easier. And because Google Photos is awesome, I’m hopeful Allo will be too (the app by itself is really cool. IMO it just needs SMS support and desktop client).

      • It’s simple. There are messaging services for businesses and there are messaging services for consumers.

        Hangouts Chat & Meet is for businesses.

        Allo & Duo are for consumers.

        Where did they lose you?

        • I think most understand that, but the problem is they have existing users on Hangouts, who transitioned from Google Voice, who do or don’t have carrier numbers tied in, who can and do make phone calls, video calls, and IM. Without mention of what’s happening here, this sudden shift into business leaves more questions than answers.

          You then have an independent Google Voice app/service, where the support hasn’t always been consistent. They recently updated it, but it says nothing of the future and how/if it will integrate with these other services.

          There is also Messenger, which currently handles carrier SMS, but many people want integration, not separate applications. It’s unknown if Allo will eventually make this redundant.

          And that’s without touching on how long the services you mentioned will stick around or change. At this point in time, Google has at least 7 different IM/SMS/Video applications, and reasonably expects a user to at least have three of them (1 each), depending on needs. Where we were once moving into a single, unified experience, it’s now exploding into shifty support for whatever product(s) they’re trying to compete with.

          • Yeah, I was around for most of all of this and as much as everyone cries about an all in one solution, it wasn’t working. Sure the power user users​ love it and get it but it wasn’t working for mass adoption, so they broke it down. Again, not hard to follow. As far what’s going to happen with this or that, something tells me… hold on for this… they’ll announce something in the future. You can move to the new consumer product or continue on using what you’re using until they sort it out.

            There aren’t that many solutions and however many there are doesn’t mean they’re all for you to use. If Hangouts has moved to business solution, why do we, consumers even care about Meet or Chat? Allo and Duo should be your focus. Allo and Duo will succeed if you use them, if you don’t they’ll fail and they’ll either have to let them die or start over again. For now, they told you what to use and they’re sorting out the rest. Problem is we are too close to the kitchen while they’re cooking. Average person doesn’t know or care about this to the minute news and to them Allo and Duo is being marketed to them and they get it and understand that.

          • It’s not just about all-in-one solutions (which consumer’s do want, given iMessage exists and is popular). It’s also about the general lack of product focus and the constant adoption, then abandonment, of existing services. There is a long list of fragmented services that Google leaves in it’s wake, which hurt the adoption of new ones, as is the case with Allo. That’s how we end up with Google chasing another focused product into the market, usually late, and failing. Your wait and see approach isn’t a revelation, and power users are plenty capable of adapting, but Google has been demonstrably bad at this.

            Allo’s adoption has been mild, at best. This wasn’t a surprise, as many initial users littered them with feedback concerning its shortcomings and faults, while many casual users don’t even know or care that it exists, because it does so within a highly saturated market. Success is partially based on user uptake, but that directly depends on utility and whether or not it improves the current experience. As we’ve seen, it doesn’t.

            As to Meet or Chat, most consumers won’t care. What users are asking (here, specifically), is what happens to the existing implementation of Hangouts, during a Hangouts branded product expansion, which is a valid question and concern. It’s not about using all the solutions, it’s a question of how current services, which receive varied levels of support, will continue or transition.

          • First, what’s the constant abandonment. Like, I get the joke about it but let’s be real for a second, what was constantly abandoned? Hangouts was the consolidation of what Google was once ridiculed for having too many chat services (Huddle, Google Chat, Google Voice). Listening to finicky power users led to them cramming it all into one service, Hangouts and that didn’t work. Power users loved it but it was too complicated for the average user to grasp. Now Google is correcting that with a more focus. Breaking up and separating the services into consumer and business use. Are they done? No, so kick back and be patient while this all gets sort out. Your confusion comes form worrying.

            Allo is for the consumer. Despite not having “my-must-need-feature” the only feature Allo really needs is users, because even if it had all the little features everyone claims they need from a messenger, it all wouldn’t matter if no one is using it. All you need is to send a message from user A to user B and it does that well in a nice package.

            Hangouts isn’t for consumers anymore so I don’t get what’s the worry about that. Move on. They told us that when Allo came out. What’s the confusion, I don’t know.

          • Google didn’t listen to finicky power users, they were chasing other companies into markets they were late to compete in. Google+ was a prime example, where they desperately tried to compete with the FB threat that was challenging them in the ad and user space. It was so poor, they tried to mash in everything, from YouTube accounts to what became Hangouts, which was then an attempt to fend of iMessage and other popular IM clients. The problem wasn’t a consolidation into one service. Users understand that, given iMessage combines SMS and IM just fine. The problem was the lack of focus, constant direction changes, poor implementaiton and fragmentation that lead to consumers being confused. Users had alternative options and preferred to use what was consistent and familiar, which happened to be services like WhatsApp, FB Messenger and iMessage.

            Allo “being for the consumer” doesn’t really mean anything, if it’s showing up to a saturated market, without key features to properly challenge existing competition. If you don’t give users an incentive to switch, you won’t build a user-base. No two ways about it. They delivered a half-cooked product that was a bigger showcase of their AI, as opposed to a client that people would leave other services for.

            And Hangouts is still for consumers, it’s an existing app in Google Play, updated all of three days ago. All we know for sure, is that it now also represents a brand. A name change could occur, they could fold it into something else, they might reclaim it with an expansion of GV (which it was also stepping on) but nobody knows, because Google is rarely clear about a given direction on these things. You may not know what the confusion is about, but the consumer is often confused, and we’ve seen numerous underwhelming products/failures by Google, as a result.

          • To complicated? My 72 year old mom figured out hangouts.

            It has been abandoned along with Google voice. Numerous times.

            Allo and Duo is what happens when Google listens to fan boys. Where nothing makes sense. No product is a direct replacement for anything and just looks fancy.

          • Unfortunately, project fi ties in hangouts and Google voice. So you need the unification for their advertised features.

            Allo and Duo are terrible replacements for classic hangouts since they miss the features people used hangouts for.

            I don’t know a single person who uses Allo or Duo. They either use hangouts or messaging.

            Hangouts is the only product that comes close to the tremendously superior iMessage. More people use hangouts than duo, Allo or messenges. So why do they need more?

        • you are wrong here. allo and duo are for little girls. stickers? really, I give my 4 yr old stickers and she gets all excited (acknowledge all the silly messaging apps are doing this). they are all stupid. simple, straightforward IM is all that is needed. and were does messages fit?

          • Did you know Hangouts has stickers? Google Messenger (now Android Messenger) has stickers? Whether you did or didn’t I’m sure you ignored them, so you can miss me one hating on Allo over stickers. You want a straight messenger, use it as a straight messenger and ignore the other features… get out of your feelings about it.

        • And then messages. And then classic hangouts. No other app does what the classic hangouts did with the universal access, attachability and seamless useage across all platforms..

          They haven’t explained their strategy ever. They will have 6 different messaging apps pretty soon when all they need is one, maybe two.

          That’s why people are confused. They just keep throwing stuff up everywhere without any direction or purpose or actually replacing the apps they say it does. It’s asanine and without direction.

    • They haven’t told anyone what they are doing. They make announcements and splinter projects without providing replacements or any sort of unification.

      So if you know something or have been told a secret. Please let us know.

  • Why do the easy thing and integrate everything into hangouts and have your one stop shop? We are Google and we approve this stupid as hell message.

    • I totally agree but they tried to do that but it failed according to their standards which is why they’re turning in this direction now.

    • The problem is Google has too many different teams with no communication with one another. It literally shows in all these different messanging apps.

  • Google has completed f-ed up its entire messaging plans. Hangouts is by far the best app over Messenger and Allo. They should have just improved Hangouts and not released Allo.

    • I agree that they’ve royally screwed up their messaging plans, mostly because they don’t seem to have a plan.

      Personally, i much prefer Messages to either one of them. That said, I’d still pick Allo over Hangouts.

    • If I could use Signal for Google Voice Calls and SMS, I would drop Hangouts in a second.

  • How much you want to bet that Google will leave out SMS support in this new chat platform?
    Is anyone at Google driving the train or does every team work on their own vision for products? I dislike Apple, but at least all of their products & services integrate into a clear direction. Google messaging products are like all of the kids toys scattered around the driveway and we are coming home from a hard day at work and seeing this mess.

      • I think it’s more Google’s the parent, telling us the children: Play with them. All of them. At the same time. Right now!

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    • Why would SMS need to be supported? Please explain. This is for business communications like Slack. They, being executives and the IT departments would want the employees to be chatting about business things and projects and such on a secure platform which can be controlled, SMS is not that platform. Also, since there are rooms and it’s all about group chats and collaboration, SMS would not make sense to be supported.

      • With Google giving Hangouts SMS support, a lot of people use Hangouts for all messaging on their phones. With Google going the business communication route, are the going to drop the SMS support that people have been using for all SMS/MMS needs? I think this is a logical question, and I think the best of all worlds would be if Google left Hangouts alone and use a different service for business com.

      • It does make sense and is a logical question.

        People use hangouts even in the Enterprise world for SMS chat. Especially those that need to archive their chats.

        So saying that it is a none issue is ignorant of the product and how it is used.

  • Well, I went back to Google Voice App for my Google Voice based SMS and MMS, and I use Facebook messenger for everything else, thankful in a way that I weaned myself off of Hangouts.

  • Wait, Hangouts is required for wifi calling on project fi. How is this going to change project fi’s wifi calling going forward?

    • Try the new Google Voice App, its a treat to use since the re-design I switched and love it.

      • The new Google Voice app is utter garbage on iOS. It was alright on Android, but it was doodoo on iOS.

        Also, no quick reply was a huge con.

      • Only problem is they don’t have a desktop screen widget to offer…. I went back to the previous version because of that.

    • Use the new Google Voice. It’s missing a couple of things but it’s far better now to not use Hangouts for your voicemails.

  • OMG. If only Google would announce what they have in mind for what the final versions of Allo, Messages, Google Voice and Hangout will be, I would be fine with that. Right now, the dripping of changes without road map is killing me. You’re driving me nuts Google.

  • I wonder if Hangouts will become Hangouts Chat (like Talk to Hangouts) or will they shut down the existing app and Hangouts Chat will be completely separate to force all the regular Hangouts users to migrate to Allo…

    • I kind of think Google is making so many different apps to see which one users will flock to. Google Plus did not work out, so they’re creating a ton of other apps, hoping one will stick to the wall. If one eventually does, then they’ll put all their resources behind it. They’re all trial apps, like I mentioned, to see which one “could” take off. Once they find the ONE, the others will die out. Almost seems like a competition within Google to see which developer or team can come of the “One” that people like and will use going forward… Obviously zero have taken off yet!

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