Classic Hangouts Shutdown Date July 15th

This is a friendly reminder that as of July 15th, the classic Hangouts chat will no longer be available. This is because the college is now using the brand new Google Chat for direct and group messaging!

The sunsetting of the classics Hangouts app is solely to reduce any confusion and make sure that we are using the most up to date applications to ensure quality, experience and reliability.


There is no action needed unless you are still using the classic Hangouts app for a group chat. All group chats created in classic Hangouts should be recreated in Google Chat. For more information on how to do so, please refer to this link. If you would like to know more about the switch to Google Chat and how to access your classic Hangouts group chat transcripts please check out our blog post.

Note that on July 15th you will no longer be able to use hangouts.google.com and the old mobile chat app will no longer work. You will only be able to view the old group chats in the Gmail chat label.

Start using Hangouts Chat right now

Beginning April 16, 2019, Google Hangouts Chat and Meet together are the next version of Hangouts. They will replace the original version (classic Hangouts) in G Suite.  

Classic Hangouts will be retired for all G Suite customers starting in October 2019 and all remaining users will be transitioned to Chat.

This means all classic Hangouts users can also use Chat at chat.google.com or by installing the Chat mobile or computer apps.

Learn more about Chat and classic Hangouts interoperability.

Switching from classic Hangouts to Hangouts Meet

Hangouts Chat is for continuous text chat with your team. Hangouts Chat was implemented by many people who transitioned from classic Hangouts. The chat app is filled with many features to work productively. Google has included a bot it calls @meet that can look at the schedules of anybody in a group chat and automatically suggest a meeting time then schedule it directly in Google Calendar. For more information review Get Started with Bots! ITS blog post.

Hangouts Meet is how teams communicate using video calls, one can easily hold video meetings with people inside or outside their organization.

Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet are the next generation of Hangouts that focus on team communication. Later this year, Google will  transition classic Hangouts users to Chat and Meet.

Classic Hangouts Timeline:

Classic Hangouts is a Google video messaging app. It is being phased out and will be retired for all G Suite customers in October 2019.

For more information review material from Google on these apps: Switching from classic Hangouts to Hangouts Meet.

For further details please review:  Upcoming Hangouts service consolidation for all G Suite customers

For help in getting started with Hangouts Chat please contact: ITS@manhattan.edu or TEL:  718-862-7973.

Google for Education Roadshow on campus Dec 8

Representatives from Google’s Higher Ed team were in Kelly Commons on Saturday, Dec 8 and presented to adjunct faculty about the best use of Google Apps for:

Workflow Optimization:  Google Calendar, Classroom & Course Kit

Communication:  Gmail, Google Chat & Google Meet

Collaboration & Teamwork:  Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive & Jamboard

Immersive Learning:  Tour Creator (allows you to make your own Virtual Reality tours)

Google representatives taught the group tips and techniques which enable us to use Google more efficiently. This event was sponsored by the Faculty Technology Committee whose focus is on adjunct technology support. 15 adjuncts attended along with Graduate students. It was a productive and informative workshop, specifically targeting higher education instructors. Attendees left with a variety of ideas of how they can use technology more productively and how to enhance their current teaching methods by blending technology into their current content.

Special thanks to Dr Adam Koehler, Chair of the Faculty Development Committee and Dr Shawna BuShell, Chair of the Faculty Technology Committee for co-sponsoring this event and bringing Google to Manhattan College.

Please contact its@manhattan.edu for additional resources on blending more technology into your courses using Google Apps.