Google Workspace Updates: Google Hangouts

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - September 2, 2022

Friday, September 2, 2022

New updates Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time (if not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete), and available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers.

Refining notifications on the Google Classroom app We’ve made the following improvement to Google Classroom notifications: In addition to setting your preference for Classroom push notifications, you can now tailor your email notifications from Android or iOS mobile devices. | Learn more.

The text for all push notifications has been updated and we’ve enhanced Classroom action options, such as “Join class” or “View comment.” With this update, Classroom push notifications are much clearer and more actionable. | These features are available now to Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers only. | Learn more.

Insert Google Maps place chips into Google DocsLast year, we added the ability for you to insert a Google Maps place chip into a Google Doc by pasting a Maps link directly into the document. Now, you can insert place chips into your Docs using the @ menu. | Roll out to Rapid Release began August 22, 2022; launch to Scheduled Release planned for September 8, 2022. | Learn more.

Google Meet now automatically adjusts the volume of meeting participants With meeting participants using various devices to join a meeting, this can lead to discrepancies in volume, with some participants sounding louder than others. Meet will adjust the audio of all participants, helping to ensure everyone is equally loud. To take advantage of this feature, make sure noise cancellation is turned on. We hope this makes for smoother meetings, with less disruptions. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Frontline, and Individual customers only.

Previous announcements The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.

Dark Canvas theme now available on Google Meet hardware home screen We’re adding support for a dark home page theme for Google Meet hardware devices. When using Dark Canvas, devices will now feature dark user interface elements on the home screen when not in an active call. | Available for all supported Google Meet hardware devices that have not yet reached their auto-update expiration date. | Learn more.

Easily customize digital signage on your Google Meet hardware through Appspace We’re giving admins more options for customization by using their Appspace digital signage content. | Learn more.

Insert emojis inline with text in Google Docs You can now express yourself in a new way by searching for and inserting emojis directly inline with your text in Google Docs. | Learn more.

Work Insights reporting for Google Chat and Google Meet With the recent upgrade from Hangouts to Google Chat for Google Workspace customers, we’re pleased to introduce a Work Insights product for Meet and Chat. Work Insights allows for optimal visibility into your organization’s digital transformation journey, and helps to improve collaboration, promote growth, and much more. | Learn More. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers

Google Hangouts will be fully upgraded to Google Chat starting November 1, 2022 As a final step in the migration, beginning November 1, 2022, Google Hangouts on web will redirect to Google Chat on web, and Hangouts will no longer be accessible. Admins will receive an email containing more information about this change, as well as changes in Vault and exporting Hangouts data. | Learn More.

For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

Google Hangouts will be fully upgraded to Google Chat starting November 1, 2022

Friday, September 2, 2022

What’s changing In February, we announced that all domains would be upgraded to ‘Chat preferred’ and Google Hangouts would start redirecting to Google Chat. Since then, the Hangouts mobile app, Hangouts Chrome extension, and Hangouts in Gmail on web have been redirecting to Chat.

As a final step in the migration, beginning November 1, 2022, Google Hangouts on web will redirect to Google Chat on web, and Hangouts will no longer be accessible.

Admins will receive an email containing more information about this change, as well as changes in Vault and exporting Hangouts data.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it’s important Upgrading Google Hangouts to Google Chat gives users a single messaging solution and better integration across Google Workspace. Further, users can take advantage of the feature-rich experience, such as:

Rich-text editing
Tagging specific people with @ mentions
Searching for and sharing GIFs and using emoji reactions
Seamless integration with Gmail, alongside your other critical apps
Spaces, dedicated places for organizing people, topics, and projects in Google Workspace.

Getting started

Admins:

For some users, some conversations or portions of conversations won’t automatically migrate from Hangouts to Chat. If there are impacted users in your domain, you will receive an email notification with more details.
Inform your users about the upgrade from Google Hangouts to Google Chat and the associated changes.

End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about the switch from classic Hangouts to Google Chat.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Google Workspace Help: Learn about the switch from Google Hangouts to Google Chat

Classic Hangouts will be upgraded to Google Chat beginning March 22, 2022

Tuesday, February 22, 2022

What’s changing We're now ready to move into the final phase of the migration from Classic Hangouts to Google Chat for Google Workspace customers.
Beginning March 22, 2022, we’ll turn on the “Chat preferred” setting for any customers who haven’t already done so, making Google Chat the default chat application. This means that when users visit classic Hangouts in Gmail on the web or the classic Hangouts mobile apps, they’ll be directed to Chat. Hangouts.google.com will continue to work. It is not possible to opt out of this change. If you’d like to export your classic Hangouts and Chat data, learn about exporting your organization’s data.
NOTE: This phase does not affect the personal use of Hangouts with a Google Account.

See below for more information and timing.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users
Why it matters Starting March 22, 2022, classic Hangouts users with the following domain settings will be migrated to Google Chat:

Admin console setting

Automatic upgrade timeline

Chat and classic Hangouts

Access groups with both Google Chat and classic Hangouts turned on

Over the course of three weeks starting March 22, 2022

Classic Hangouts only

Access groups with only classic Hangouts enabled

Over the course of five weeks starting April 4, 2022

After domains are upgraded to “Chat preferred,” all classic Hangouts applications, except hangouts.google.com, will be disabled. Additionally, the “Chat and classic Hangouts” and “Classic Hangouts only” settings will be removed from the Admin console.
Additional details

Vault users: Messages sent in classic Hangouts will continue to be retained and held according to policies set for Chat, and searchable and exportable with Gmail search in Vault. Messages sent in Chat are subject to retention rules and holds you set for Chat, and searchable and exportable with Chat search in Vault.
Conversation history: Except for a few special cases, all the conversation history from Hangouts will be available in Google Chat. However, starting mid-March 2022, any newly created spaces in Google Chat within your domain will not appear in classic Hangouts. This means that messages sent in these spaces will only appear in Google Chat for your affected users. You can learn more about Chat and classic Hangouts interoperability.

Getting started

Admins:

If you currently have the “Classic Hangouts only” or “Chat and classic Hangouts” Admin console setting enabled for your entire domain or specific access groups, you’ll be automatically upgraded to the “Chat preferred” setting, per the dates listed above. You can upgrade all of your users to “Chat preferred” prior to those dates if you choose.
If you don’t have the “Classic Hangouts only” or “Chat and classic Hangouts” setting selected, you don’t need to do anything.

End user: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about the switch from classic Hangouts to Google Chat.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Choose a Chat service for your organization
Google Workspace Admin Help: Transition to Google Chat

Limit external messaging to trusted domains in Google Chat

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

What’s changing Trusted domains for Chat allows you to limit external chat to only users in domains that you trust. Previously, you could only choose to allow external Chat or not. Now, you may choose to limit external chat to people in trusted domains for your entire organization, or set different policies for different OUs.

Who’s impacted Admins

Why it’s importantTrusted domains for Chat gives admins more fine grained control over external chat in their organization. This can help the right users communicate with the stakeholders they need to work with, while helping to prevent inappropriate or undesired external chats.

Additional detailsTrusted domains only allows communication with domain managed accounts in those domains. Email verified consumer accounts will not be trusted.
Getting started

Admins: Admins can enable trusted domains from the chat admin settings page. Apps > Google Workspace > Settings for Google Chat and classic Hangouts. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning on external chat options and allowing external sharing with only trusted domains.

End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility starting on August 18)

Availability

Available to [Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Allow external sharing with only trusted domains
Google Workspace Admin Help: Turn on external chat options

Hangouts to Google Chat upgrade beginning August 16th, with option to opt-out

Monday, July 19, 2021

What’s changing Beginning August 16, 2021, we will start upgrading users who have the “Chat and classic Hangouts” setting selected to “Chat preferred,” unless you explicitly opt out. Users who already have “Chat only”, “Chat preferred”, or “Classic Hangouts Only” selected, or users with both services turned off will not be affected.

Additionally, the “Chat and classic Hangouts'' setting will also be removed for all users in your domain unless you opt out of the upgrade.

If there are affected users in your domain, you will receive an email notification that contains more information and any necessary action that needs to be taken.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why it’s important

Unless you opt-out, Google Chat will replace classic Hangouts as the default chat application for your affected users.

Beginning late 2021, classic Hangouts will no longer be supported and all remaining users will be migrated to Google Chat. Learn more about the Google Chat upgrade timeline.

Getting started

Admins: Before August 16, 2021, you have the option to:

If you don’t take any action, all users in your organization who have the “Chat and classic Hangouts” setting selected will be automatically upgraded to “Chat preferred” and the “Chat and classic Hangouts” setting will no longer be accessible. We anticipate this migration to take around two weeks.

No action is required if there are no users in your domain with the “Chat and classic Hangouts” service setting selected.

Additional details

The “Chat and classic Hangouts” setting will be removed from the Admin Console regardless of your selected setting, unless you opt out.

Conversation History: With the exception of a few special cases, messages sent in classic Hangouts 1:1 and group conversations will be available in Chat. Learn more about Chat and classic Hangouts interoperability.

Direct calling: Chat doesn’t yet support direct calling in the same way as classic Hangouts. We anticipate direct calling to become available for Google Chat later this year — we will provide an update here when that feature becomes available.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 16, 2021

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, and Enterprise customers.

Resources

Manage Hangouts Meet and classic Hangouts video calls with one setting

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

What’s changing

Video calling from Hangouts Meet and classic Hangouts is now controlled by the same setting. This means that the setting in the Admin console that controls classic Hangouts video calling now also controls Hangouts Meet.

Who’s impacted

Admins

Why it matters

By combining these settings, we’re making it easier for you to manage all video calling within your organization.

Getting started

Admins: You can find the new, consolidated setting in the Admin console at Apps > G Suite > Settings for Google Hangouts > Meet settings. Learn more in the Help Center. The new setting will respect your previous setting. For new G Suite customers, video calling will be enabled by default.

End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.

Rollout pace

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

G Suite Admin Help: Turn video calling on or off

Combining classic Hangouts and Chat policy management

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

What’s changing

We’re combining the Admin console settings for Hangouts Chat and classic Hangouts. This will make it easier to manage your policies and make sure they’re configured appropriately. The new settings will be located at Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Hangouts Chat.

See more details and images below.

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d use it

These Admin console settings help you dictate how your organization uses G Suite messaging products. For example, you can set policies for chat history, external user chats, and third-party integrations (bots). With this update, you only need to go to one place to control all the chat settings for your organization. This can help to simplify deployment and ensure policies are set up as desired.

How to get started

Admins: View and control the new settings at Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Hangouts Chat. Use our Help Center to learn more about managing Hangouts Chat in your organization.
End users: No action needed.

Additional details

Note, we will not be making any changes to your effective settings—only the location and presentation of the settings will change. Clicking “Chat Settings” from the classic Hangouts page in the Admin console will redirect you to the Hangouts Chat settings page. From there, you'll find all of the settings that control chatting across both classic Hangouts and Hangouts Chat.

The specific policies affected by this change, along with details of the impact of the change, are shown in the Help Center. The new policies can be customized for each organizational unit (OU).

Additional details on the function of the settings and what products they apply to are provided in the Admin console interface:

The new combined settings in the Admin console

Helpful links

Help Center: Chat Service Consolidation

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

These changes will take place automatically for all domains once rollout is complete.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Get G Suite product update alerts by email
See the G Suite launch release calendar
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Updates to Hangouts Chat migration timelines

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

What’s changing

Earlier this year, we announced that we will be transitioning classic Hangouts users in G Suite domains to Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet. At that time, we provided a timeline of changes and said that in October 2019 we would start retiring classic Hangouts for G Suite customers.

Since then, we’ve heard feedback from many of you that you’d like more time to migrate your organizations from classic Hangouts to Hangouts Chat.

As a result, we’re officially postponing the final transition date (i.e. phase 4 in this timeline) to no sooner than June 2020.

In the interim, we’ll continue to improve the transition experience of classic Hangouts group conversations, as well as add new Chat features like Read receipts. We’ll also provide advance notice once we have a more definitive date, so please monitor the G Suite Updates blog for updates. We’ll also have a detailed breakdown of the transition timeline in the Help Center.

Migrate sooner with the Accelerated Transition Program
Admins who prefer to fully migrate to Chat sooner can still request an invitation to the Accelerated Transition Program, which disables classic Hangouts and migrates all users to Hangouts Chat, while providing early access to new Chat features.

This program is great for domains that:

Want to simplify communications and get all users on the same chat experience
Are new G Suite customers or haven’t used classic Hangouts before

Migration by organizational unit is not available at this time, and classic Hangouts group conversations will need to be recreated in Chat. Please review the Deployment Guide and Known Limitations to determine if this migration experience is right for you.

For admins who have already signed up for early access through the Accelerated Transition Program, we are adding domains to this program on a rolling basis.

How to get started

Helpful links

Accelerated Transition Program sign-up
Help Center: Accelerated Transition Program
Help Center: Transition timeline

Availability

G Suite editions All G Suite editions can apply.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

New adaptive meeting layouts in Hangouts Meet

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

What’s changing

Hangouts Meet is launching adaptive layouts that automatically adjust to give you the best view of the people and presentations in your meeting:

Spotlight
The spotlight layout keeps the focus on the presentation or a single speaker. It’s used when you’re in a meeting with just one other participant, when you pin someone, and when there’s a presentation but no active speakers with video on.

Tiled
The tiled layout shows up to four participants on the screen to make your meetings feel more inclusive. This will be the default for smaller meetings when there is no presentation.

Side by side
The side by side layout shows up to three speakers in a larger format next to the presentation. This allows you to continue to see the presenter as they speak. This is the default when there’s a presentation and there are active speakers with video on.

Sidebar
The sidebar layout improves on the existing Meet layout by showing several additional participants in the same vertical space and using rectangular feeds to avoid participants on the edge being cropped out. This will be the default for larger meetings when there is no presentation.

In addition to seeing these layouts automatically used depending on the meeting needs, users can select a preferred layout from the Change layout dialog.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

These new layouts provide the user with a more inclusive and collaborative view of the meeting, allowing for easier interaction with remote participants while still maintaining focus on the content being presented.

How to get started

Admins: No action required.
End users: You’ll see the new layouts in your next Hangouts Meet meeting once the feature has rolled out to you.

Additional details

The new layouts are available on Hangouts Meet web clients and Hangouts Meet hardware.

Helpful links

To learn more about layouts in Hangout Meets, see our Help Center.

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 30, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting no earlier than May 14, 2019.

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

The new layouts are replacing the existing layout and will be enabled by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Stay organized and on-top of conversations with Hangouts Chat improvements

Thursday, April 4, 2019

Quick launch summary

We’re improving the side panel on Hangouts Chat, making it easier to keep track of your chats and stay organized.

In addition to Starred, you’ll now see the following sections in the left-hand side panel: People, Rooms, and Bots, with corresponding chats grouped accordingly. These sections will better organize your chats, making it easy to find specific chats and see where there are items that need attention. This feature will be available across web, desktop, iOS, and Android.

Hangouts Chat on desktop.

Hangouts Chat on Mobile

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on April 4, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on April 4, 2019.

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Recurring Calendar meetings will migrate to Hangouts Meet video calling

Monday, March 11, 2019

What’s changing

As part of the migration from classic Hangouts to Hangouts Meet that we announced last year, we’ll now begin migrating the video conferencing for your recurring Calendar events from classic Hangouts to Meet. Previously, we made the change so that new events scheduled in Calendar will use Meet. Now this change is to update previously scheduled events in Calendar as well.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why we’re migrating

We've built Hangouts Meet to have a fast, simple interface with enterprise grade meeting functionality such as livestreaming and meeting with up to 100 people. To ensure you get the best-in-class experience we’re migrating the remainder of your existing recurring Calendar events. This will happen gradually in an effort to limit any disruption and ensure that you can focus on what’s important: meetings where people can be as productive as they are when they’re face-to-face.

How to get started

Admins: No action needed.
End users: When you join a recurring Calendar event on classic Hangouts, you will see a banner that future occurrences of this meeting will be on Meet.

Additional details

Migrating existing Calendar events
This change will take place gradually as users join affected meetings. They will see a migration banner notifying them future occurrences will be on Meet. After the end of the call, all participants will get an updated event information with the new meeting details. Single instance (non-recurring) Calendar events will remain unchanged.

If your meeting doesn’t migrate
Some of your meetings may not automatically update to Meet. When this happens, you’ll see a banner in the video call notifying end users to update the Calendar event to Meet. This may happen for complex Calendar event setups, such as if different events have the same video link.

Helpful links

Help Center: Migration FAQs

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?
This setting will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Easily copy your Gmail holds to Hangouts Chat in Google Vault

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

What’s changing

As we previously announced, beginning on April 16, 2019, Mail retention rules and holds will stop protecting chat messages in classic Hangouts. Instead, Hangouts Chat retention rules and holds will protect chat messages in both classic Hangouts and Chat. To continue to preserve messages in classic Hangouts, before April 16, 2019, you must copy any existing Mail holds (that apply to messages in classic Hangouts) to Hangouts Chat in Google Vault. Today, we’re launching a new feature in Vault to help you copy your holds from Mail to Hangouts Chat, with a few clicks.

Who’s impacted

Vault Admins only

Why you’d use it

This feature helps you ensure all your messages in classic Hangouts and Hangouts Chat are preserved by the same Vault policies as your classic Hangouts messages are today.

How to get started

Admins: In Vault,

From the list of Vault matters, click on any matter that may contain Gmail holds. When viewing the list of holds in this matter, you can select multiple Mail holds at once.
Select the Mail hold(s) and click Copy holds to Hangouts Chat.

End users: No action required

Additional details

Note that Hangouts Chat doesn’t support holds based on date ranges or search terms, so they won’t be copied with the hold. You can also choose to extend these holds to cover conversations associated with these custodians in rooms.

Additionally, if you have a large number of holds in place, you can also use Vault APIs to duplicate your holds in bulk.

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions

Available to G Suite Business, Enterprise, and Enterprise for Education editions, as well as G Suite users with the Vault add-on license.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Change to per-conversation settings in classic Hangouts on Android

Thursday, February 14, 2019

Quick launch summary

We're moving notification settings for classic Hangouts conversations to notification channels on O+ Android devices. With these changes, customized ring tones and chat messaging tones per conversation/contact will be removed and defaulted to the general app settings.

New settings page

To view or edit the ring and chat messaging tone settings for classic Hangouts on your Android device, open the classic Hangouts app and, in a conversation, click the more menu > “Options.”

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions

All G Suite editions

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Upcoming Hangouts service consolidation for all G Suite customers

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

What’s changing

As we announced in 2017, Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet are the next generation of Hangouts that focus on team communication. Later this year, we'll transition classic Hangouts users on G Suite domains to Chat and Meet. As a first step, some changes are coming on April 16, 2019.

Key dates to note

G Suite customers can expect the following timeline of changes:

April 16, 2019 – Several changes that may require administrator action (see below for details).
Between April and September 2019 – Features from classic Hangouts will come to Chat.
October 2019 – Start retiring classic Hangouts for G Suite customers.

Consumer impact

The above dates are specific to G Suite customers and their end users who use classic Hangouts. We will continue to support consumer use of classic Hangouts, and expect to transition consumers to free Chat and Meet following the transition of G Suite customers. A more specific timeline will be communicated at a later date.

What changes will take place on April 16, 2019?
For G Suite domains that have classic Hangouts enabled, Chat will also become available to users on the web and via mobile apps. They can also continue using classic Hangouts in Gmail, mobile, web or the Chrome extension. See these details for how interoperability works between Chat and classic Hangouts.

The following admin-facing changes will begin taking place on April 16, 2019:

For Google Vault customers, Mail retention rules and holds will stop protecting chat messages in classic Hangouts. Instead, Chat retention rules and holds will protect chat messages in both classic Hangouts and Chat.
Chat admin settings will now control chat capability in both classic Hangouts and Chat.
A new setting in the Admin console under Apps > G Suite > Hangouts Chat will be added so you can disable classic Hangouts user interfaces at a time of your choosing.
The "Google Hangouts" settings page in the Admin console will be renamed "Hangouts Meet." This setting will control both classic Hangouts video and Hangouts Meet.

Google Vault customers need to take action before April 16, 2019
Between March 16 and April 16, 2019, Vault customers that have any Mail retention rules or holds will have an indefinite retention rule automatically created for Chat. This rule is to protect all your chat messages in classic Hangouts when Chat rules start protecting them on April 16, 2019. Before April 16, 2019, you must:

Review and set new retention rules for Chat in Google Vault.
Duplicate any existing Mail holds for Chat in Google Vault.
Set any new holds on chat messages from Chat in Google Vault.
Once you have set your preferred retention rules and holds for Chat, in order for them to take effect, remove the indefinite retention rule that may be overriding your rules.

If you don’t take set your preferred retention rules or holds in Chat and then remove the indefinite retention rule by April 16, 2019, all your chat messages in classic Hangouts and direct messages in Chat will be retained indefinitely. Refer to this Help Center article to learn more about completing these actions.

What will happen in October 2019?
Classic Hangouts will be retired for all G Suite customers starting in October 2019 and all remaining users will be transitioned to Chat. More notices and details will be shared on the G Suite Updates blog in the future. In order to make the transition easier for your users, you can review our Chat documentation.

What is the best time to move my users to Hangouts Chat?
You can transition your users immediately if you’d like. If there’s more functionality that your organization needs before switching, rest assured that between April and September 2019, we’ll add features that will make it easier for your users to move from classic Hangouts to Chat such as:

Integration with Gmail
Chatting with external users
An improved video calling experience
Making calls with Google Voice

We will communicate availability of these new features via the G Suite Updates blog so stay tuned!

Helpful links

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Get G Suite product update alerts by email
See the G Suite launch release calendar
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Migrating all G Suite domains from classic Hangouts to Hangouts Meet

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

In March 2017, we announced Hangouts Meet, the next generation in enterprise video meetings. After continued positive feedback from our customers who have begun using Meet, starting May 29th, we’ll enable Hangouts Meet for all G Suite domains that are automatically upgrading on Google’s recommended schedule. This means that all newly created Google Calendar events will contain Meet video meeting details. Previously created meetings will not be impacted with this change.

You can expect these changes to take effect over the next month. If at any time you decide you want your users to schedule new meetings with classic Hangouts instead of Meet during this transition period, you can do so in the Admin console under Apps > G Suite > Google Hangouts > Meet Settings and unselecting “New meeting experience.”

Additionally, to ensure your domain has a seamless transition to Meet, we've added Meet compatibility with Firefox (starting on version 60). Unlike in classic Hangouts, Meet uses native WebRTC protocols so that it does not require any downloads or plugins when using Meet in Firefox.

To learn more about these changes, review the details of the transition plan and the differences between classic Hangouts video calls and Meet in the Help Center. You can also refer to our Meet deployment guide for materials to communicate these changes to your users.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All admins and end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Switch to Meet

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

8 swift steps G Suite admins can take to secure business data

Thursday, October 12, 2017

(Cross-posted from The Keyword)

Security doesn’t have to be complicated. With G Suite, admins can manage and help protect their users with minimal effort because we've designed our tools to be intuitive—like Vault, which helps with eDiscovery and audit needs, and data loss prevention, which helps ensure that your “‘aha”’ moments stay yours. Here are some key security controls that you can deploy with just a few clicks to get more fine-grained control of your organization's security.

1. Enable Hangouts out-of-domain warnings
If your business allows employees to chat with external users on Hangouts, turn on a setting that will show warnings to your users if anyone outside of your domain tries to join a Hangout, and split existing group chats so external users can’t see previous internal conversations. This substantially reduces the risk of data leaks or falling prey to social engineering attacks. (Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Google Hangouts > Chat settings > Sharing options)

2. Disable email forwarding
Exercising this option will disable the automatic email forwarding feature for users, which in turn helps reduce the risk of data exfiltration in the event a user’s credentials are compromised. (Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Gmail > Advanced settings)

3. Enable early phishing detection
Enabling this option adds further checks on potentially suspicious emails prior to delivery. Early phishing detection utilizes a dedicated machine learning model that selectively delays messages to perform rigorous phishing analysis. Less than 0.05 percent of messages on average get delayed by a few minutes, so your users will still get their information fast. (Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Gmail > Advanced settings)

4. Examine OAuth-based access to third-party apps
OAuth apps whitelisting helps keep company data safe by letting you specifically select which third-party apps are allowed to access users’ G Suite data. Once an app is part of a whitelist, users can choose to grant authorized access to their G Suite apps data. This helps to prevent malicious apps from tricking people into accidentally granting access to corporate data. (Admin console > Security > G Suite API Permissions)

5. Check that unintended external reply warning for Gmail is turned on
Gmail can display unintended external reply warnings to users to help prevent data loss. You can enable this option to ensure that if your users try to respond to someone outside of your company domain, they’ll receive a quick warning to make sure they intended to send that email. Because Gmail has contextual intelligence, it knows if the recipient is an existing contact or someone your users interact with regularly, so it only displays relevant warnings. This option is on by default. (Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Gmail > Advanced settings)

6. Restrict external calendar
To reduce the incidence of data leaks, make sure that Google Calendar details aren’t shared outside your domain. Limiting sharing to “free” or “busy” information protects you from social engineering attacks that depend on gleaning information from meeting titles and attendees. (Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Calendar > Sharing settings)

7. Limit access to Google Groups
By setting default Google group access to private, you can limit external access to information channels that may contain confidential business information, like upcoming projects. (Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Groups for Business > Sharing settings)

8. Set Google+ access restrictions
Make the default sharing setting for Google+ restricted and disable discoverability of Google+ profiles outside your domain. Both of these actions can help you control access to critical business information. (Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Google+ > Advanced settings)

Every company has their own unique set of business requirements that need to work in rhythm with their security requirements. By evaluating and implementing some of these suggested security controls, you can make a marked difference in your company’s security posture—with just a few clicks. See this post for other security tips.

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Hangouts Meet troubleshooting data to include mobile devices

Thursday, July 6, 2017

Hangouts Meet allows G Suite administrators to determine whether web video call logs should be uploaded to Google to aid with support troubleshooting. Starting on July 17th, 2017, the Hangouts Meet client logs upload setting in the Admin console will also apply to mobile devices. Such log data allows Google Support to more effectively resolve issues reported by customers to Google Support.

Please review the updated section in the Admin console under Google Hangouts > Meet; your existing setting for Client Logs Upload will continue to remain unchanged unless you choose to modify it.

Please see the configuration in the Admin console for more information.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release on July 17th, 2017

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Turn Meet on or off

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Updates in G Suite to streamline Hangouts and Gmail

Friday, March 24, 2017

If you were at Google Cloud Next this year, you may have heard that Gmail and Google Hangouts are getting several improvements designed for businesses, such as Gmail Add-ons and the evolution of Hangouts: Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat. To make the most of these opportunities, we’re announcing several updates to Hangouts, Gmail and Google+ that make things much simpler for both enterprise administrators and users.

Streamlining the messaging experience for Android: At Google Cloud Next, we announced that we’ve evolved Hangouts to focus on two new experiences that help bring teams together and keep work moving forward: Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat. We’ve been working hard to streamline the classic Hangouts product for enterprise users, and, as part of this effort, will be removing carrier SMS functionality in the classic Hangouts app for Android, starting on May 22. For administrators: If your domain is affected by this change, you can expect to receive an email notification with additional details in the coming days.

Upgrading SMS with Android Messages: We want to provide a consistent and easy-to-use SMS experience for Android users, right out of the box. So we’re focused on making Android Messages the primary place to access SMS and are working with carriers and device manufacturers to include Android Messages natively in Android devices. Over time, we’re working with partners to upgrade SMS to RCS—the next standard in carrier messaging that will bring features like read receipts, group chat, hi-res photo sharing and more.
Hangouts on Android users: In the next few weeks, you’ll see a notification in the classic Hangouts app to switch to another SMS app already on your phone for SMS, or to download Android Messages if one isn’t available. Choosing a new messaging app will not impact your SMS message history, and all your messages will be accessible in whichever new app you choose. Note: This change does not impact Google Voice users who may continue to use Hangouts for their Google Voice SMS. Project Fi users who wish to use Hangouts as their SMS app will also not be impacted by this change, and can consult the Project Fi forum for more detail.

Fully transitioning Google Talk to Hangouts: Google Talk launched in 2005 as a simple chat experience between Gmail users. In 2013, we began replacing Google Talk with Hangouts, while still giving users the option to continue using Google Talk. Hangouts offers advanced improvements over Google Talk such as group video calling and integration with other Google products. With the introduction of Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat, which add further improvements in meetings and team collaboration, it is now time to say goodbye to Google Talk.

Talk users within Gmail will receive a prompt in the next few weeks, inviting them to switch to Hangouts. After June 26, users will be automatically transitioned to Hangouts, unless contractual commitments apply. For users that preferred the Google Talk look, there is a Dense Roster setting in Hangouts that provides a similar experience.
Third-party XMPP clients will continue to work with Hangouts for 1-on-1 chats. XMPP federation with third-party services providers will no longer be supported starting June 26.
The legacy Google Talk Android app was replaced in the Play Store in 2013 and will now stop functioning. Android users are encouraged to install Hangouts now.
For G Suite administrators: If your domain is affected by this change, you will have already received an email notification about this change.

Retiring several Gmail Labs: Gmail Labs serve as a great testing ground for experimental features. Successful labs graduate, and low usage labs often retire. With the announcement of Gmail Add-ons, enterprises will soon gain the ability to add modern integrations in Gmail, which in some cases will replace or improve the functionality provided by some labs. So in the coming weeks, we will retire the following Labs: Authentication Icon, Google Voice Player, Picasa previews, Pictures in chat, Quick Links, Quote Selected Text, Smartlabels, and Yelp previews. (Expected: No earlier than April 24, 2017)

Retiring Google+ functionality in Gmail: As part of our continued effort to focus Google+ around shared interests, we’re retiring two legacy Google+ features in Gmail: the ability to email Google+ profiles and the use of Google+ Circles. (Expected: No earlier than April 24, 2017)

We realize these updates may be an inconvenience, so we aimed to minimize disruption and help you navigate the changes where possible. These updates will help us focus and prioritize features that will improve the entire G Suite user experience for everyone. To monitor the retirement dates for these features, subscribe to the G Suite What’s New Calendar.

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Hangouts Meet now publicly available and Hangouts Chat Early Adopter Program now accepting applications

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Earlier today, we announced the public launch of Hangouts Meet and the Early Adopter Program for Hangouts Chat, the new enterprise-focused video meetings and online messaging experiences coming to Google Hangouts. Learn more about the new Hangouts in our blog post here: Meet the new Hangouts.

Getting started with Meet

If you are a G Suite administrator, the ability to enable specific organizational units for Meet or even your entire domain is gradually rolling out starting today.

Because Meet is launching default off for existing Hangouts users, you have the flexibility and control to plan and coordinate the rollout of Meet with your team and users.

Applying for early access to Chat

If you are a G Suite administrator, you can now apply to our Hangouts Chat Early Adopter Program.

Launch Details

Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Editions:
Meet is now available to all G Suite editions; however, the ability to create meetings with a dial-in phone number is only available to Enterprise edition users

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only
For existing domains, Admins can choose when to enable Google Meet for their users.
For newly created domains, Google Meet will be enabled by default.

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Enable the new Hangouts video meetings experience (Administrators)
Help Center: Create or join a new Hangouts video meetings experience (End-users)
Hangouts Meet Learning Center (End-users)
The Keyword

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Jump right back into the conversation with redesigned unread messages indicators in Hangouts

Monday, February 27, 2017

In Google Hangouts on desktop and Android, we’re making some time-saving improvements to the way you navigate chats. When you enter a conversation where there has been a lot of activity, you’ll see a "Jump to Last Read" button. This will take you to the last unread message in your chat denoted by # new messages indicator. Additionally, the "# new messages" button has been redesigned to match the new UI. Check out the screenshot below to see how this works:

Launch Details
Release track:
Desktop and Android launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release on February 27, 2017
Already available in iOS

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

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In the Google Cloud Community, connect with Googlers and other Google Workspace admins like yourself. Participate in product discussions, check out the Community Articles, and learn tips and tricks that will make your work and life easier. Be the first to know what's happening with Google Workspace.

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Learn about more Google Workspace launches

On the “What’s new in Google Workspace?” Help Center page, learn about new products and features launching in Google Workspace, including smaller changes that haven’t been announced on the Google Workspace Updates blog.

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Updates

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - September 2, 2022

Google Hangouts will be fully upgraded to Google Chat starting November 1, 2022

Classic Hangouts will be upgraded to Google Chat beginning March 22, 2022

Limit external messaging to trusted domains in Google Chat

Hangouts to Google Chat upgrade beginning August 16th, with option to opt-out

Manage Hangouts Meet and classic Hangouts video calls with one setting

Combining classic Hangouts and Chat policy management

Updates to Hangouts Chat migration timelines

New adaptive meeting layouts in Hangouts Meet

Stay organized and on-top of conversations with Hangouts Chat improvements

Recurring Calendar meetings will migrate to Hangouts Meet video calling

Easily copy your Gmail holds to Hangouts Chat in Google Vault

Change to per-conversation settings in classic Hangouts on Android

Upcoming Hangouts service consolidation for all G Suite customers

Migrating all G Suite domains from classic Hangouts to Hangouts Meet

8 swift steps G Suite admins can take to secure business data

Hangouts Meet troubleshooting data to include mobile devices

Updates in G Suite to streamline Hangouts and Gmail

Hangouts Meet now publicly available and Hangouts Chat Early Adopter Program now accepting applications

Jump right back into the conversation with redesigned unread messages indicators in Hangouts

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