Google Chat

Google Chat is a cloud-powered communication software developed by Google and offered for free to all holders of Google Account. This service evolved from the Google Hangout Chat feature, and after the period of extensive upgrades, Google decided that it would retire Hangouts and replace it with two new chat services – Google Chat for Windows PC which is intended to streamline text communication between users who are collaborating inside Google Workspace suite (such as working together on Google Drive documents), while the other will be Google Meet, a new Google service for fast, secure and easy video communication.

This app is a part of Google Workspace - Cloud Business Apps & Collaboration Tools. It’s FREE for the first 14 days, Try Now!

Google Chat was originally built as an integral part of Google Workspace (formerly known as G Suite) as a premium feature that allows business, education, and government customers to engage in collaboration more easily during their daily tasks. However, after Google unveiled plans for opening Google Workspace for free to all its users, it also announced changes to its text communication services.

This included the retiring of Hangouts and the promotion of Google Chat as their main text chat service. Originally rolled out to the Google customers as “early access”, this web app is now available to all holders of the free Google Account.

It allows users not only to establish direct communication with other users but also to create Rooms where many users can post and interact without restrictions. The app supports effortless embedding of multimedia, sharing of Google Drive files, and customizable notification settings for each Room.

The service mimics many features available in other enterprise chat applications such as Slack and Microsoft Teams, with many background services enabling streamlined communication not only in education, business, and large government organizations but also between family members and friends.

To enable streamlined collaboration, Google Chat of course has full integration of video chatting, with support for group video chat (of up to 8 persons), resizable video windows, and the ability to overlay text chat over the video feeds instead of resizing video windows to make space for the text chatbox.

Google Chat is available for free for all holders of Google Account. The app can be downloaded as a standalone app by users who have a fully updated version of the Google Chrome browser. In addition to the browser access, Google Chat is also released as an iOS and Android app.

Also Available: Download Google Chat for Mac