Google continues to shake up its messaging tools with the upcoming removal of a popular feature from Hangouts. According to an e-mail sent to GSuite administrators and subsequently posted to Reddit, Google will remove the SMS feature from Hangouts on May 22.
“For SMS users using Google Voice on Hangouts on Android Google Voice users who also send carrier SMS messages will need to choose another default messaging app. Their Google Voice messages will be unaffected and will still be available in Google Hangouts,” the e-mail states.
This change comes just weeks after Google revealed its new plans to turn Hangouts into a better workplace communications tool that apes Slack. The company is likely trying to remove any associations Hangouts has with traditional SMS messaging so it can position Hangouts as more of a collaboration, sharing, and productivity app.
But Google has a plethora of chat apps, so while Hangouts users may be annoyed at being forced out of their primary SMS app, they have other options.
[Source]
