Google Hangouts is enjoying quite an unexpected popularity, reason for which the developers at Google are constantly trying to improve it. As such, there are a couple of changes that we should expect, all the more interesting since the company recently announced that the app will not be supporting the SMS service anymore.
Cutting the SMS service
Droid Life has reported recently that all the GSuite customers, which is the Google service targeting business customers, received emails stating that the Google Hangouts app will quit SMS support starting with May 22. Even though the message addresses the GSuite users, it is clear that this drastic change will apply to everybody who is using the Hangouts app on the Google account for private use.
Alternatives
However, you shouldn’t worry, since there are some other alternatives. One of them is the Android Messages one, which incorporates both SMS and MMS. However, with all the changes brought to Hangouts, you will have to use 2 different apps: one is Hangouts and the other one for the SMS service. The change seems kind of odd, since instead of simplifying users’ lives, it complicates them even further. Even so, there is a catch: Google pushes its users towards other options, such as Google Duo or Allo.
It is known that people who work at Google have the possibility of investing a part of their own time for personal projects. As part of this tendency, one of the teams at Google released a Supersonic Fun Voice Messenger. Though it does not match Hangouts, obviously, it might even become the orderly and clean Google messenger that fans have been waiting for.
All in all, it seems that the tech giant is taking into account all the possibilities and issues that arise along with the drastic changes they are making to Hangouts, so don’t worry, you’ll not miss any feature!
To use Hangouts for business – check out http://www.businesshangouts.com
It allows you to host small and large webinars using Hangouts