Hangouts was on Android, iOS, the web, and inside Gmail. Google also had tangible advantages over iMessage, thanks to wide cross-platform compatibility. All your communication was available from a single messaging app in one easy-to-use interface. Google had built its iMessage clone, and it was an incredible service. Hangouts was the only default SMS option.
With the release of Android 4.4 in 2013, there was no standalone Android SMS app. By 2014, the app was fully operational and featured Hangouts Messages, SMS, and Google Voice in one app, all available from your phone or anywhere on the Internet. Hangouts launched in 2013, and by the end of the year had integrated SMS messages. Google had four messaging apps at the time: Google+ Messenger, Google Talk, Android's SMS app, and Google Voice. Hangouts, which was codenamed "Project Babel," was charged with the task of-get this- unifying Google's messaging portfolio. Besides those two big projects, there's also still Google Voice and a bunch of siloed messaging services in apps like Google Photos and Google Pay. Is the team that makes Android more or less important than the team that makes Gmail and the rest of the Google apps? Both have their understandable reasons for chasing messaging, but splitting the Google user base across two incompatible products makes it tough for either project to gain any traction. The Google Workspace team makes Google Chat-that's Google's business team making a Slack competitor-and then there's Google Messages, a carrier-centric sort-of-competitor to Apple's iMessage that seemingly grew out of the Android team. You can see the problem in the company's 2022 messaging lineup. Part of the reason we're on Google's umpteenth messaging app is that there is no solid, stable home for messaging inside Google. Google Talk launched 17 years ago, and Google still doesn't have a competitive message platform.
Further Reading A decade and a half of instability: The history of Google messaging appsThe closing of Hangouts is the latest chapter in the mess that is Google's messaging history.
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