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You should not need to do anything to initiate the change - it will happen automatically. At most you will need to refresh your Gmail tab, and in rare cases sign out of your Google account and then sign back in.

Group Messages

Group chats did not carry over from the old Hangouts. If you need to access group conversations that took place on the old Hangouts, you will need to go to hangouts.google.com in order to view them.

The new Hangouts Chat also adds the option for chat rooms, which may be a better option than group messages for routine uses, such as team or department conversations. As Google puts it: 

"Use a room to have an ongoing conversation with a group of people that can change over time. All members can view the conversation history so they won't miss what was already discussed. Rooms can have multiple threads, called conversations, for different topics within the same room."

Mobile Apps

Since Hangouts Chat is technically a new platform which is only available to paying G Suite customers, it has a different app from the Hangouts classic app. This app is called "Google Hangouts Chat" or "Hangouts Chat" and is available for both iOS and Android.

Keep in mind that since personal Gmail accounts will still be using the Hangouts classic mobile app, it is still available on the App Store and Google Play store. If you need to install the mobile app on your personal device please make sure to download the new app. These apps do have different icons which will also help in distinguishing which is which.

Hangouts classic (old): 

Hangouts Chat (new):

More Information

For a full list of features with instructions on how to use them, you can visit Google's support page titled What can you do with Hangouts Chat?. You may also be interested in the page Switching to Hangouts Chat from classic Hangouts.

If you need any assistance please submit a ticket to IT.

  

IT Support