Google Rebrands Hangouts Meet; Is This The End Of An Era?

Google has been slowly working on renaming, if not rebranding Hangouts. The company has now renamed Hangouts Meet as Google Meet. For now, the mobile app still shows as Hangouts Meet, but it's expected to change to Google Meet quite soon. Google updated the new name in a blog post, which also discusses the security and privacy details.

Google Meet Introduced

Throughout the blog post, the service is mentioned as Google Meet. The Meet support pages have also been updated calling it as Google Meet, where it was previously called Hangouts Meet. For now, the official Hangouts Meet app for Android has retained its old name, notes Android Police. But a change in name is expected for mobile platforms soon.

The next question to be raised is what happens to Hangouts Chat? An earlier report noted that Google Hangouts had received an upgrade for its audio and video capabilities. Also, Google had shut down its first chat platform Gtalk and ensured that Hangouts would continue. For now, it's hard to determine what happens to Hangouts Chat.

What Does The Rebranding Mean?

Technically, the rename doesn't mean much for Google Meet users. Removing the Hangouts name could be a smart move for Google to build a better foothold in instant messaging, live streaming, and video calling services.

Considering that Google is set to compete with services like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype Meet, Slack, and so on, users are better accustomed to the Google ecosystem, rather than Hangouts. Google Meet could now be part of Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Keep, Google Assistant, and so on.

Noticeably, a large number of the workforce is working from home now with the mandated lockdown. The rebranded name could be another way to attract users to sign up for Google Meet rather than relying on Zoom or other video conferencing platforms for business needs.