Hangouts is one of Google’s most established messaging apps, but it’s been slowly dying out for some time now. The transition to Google Chat is largely complete for business users of Google Workspace, but personal account holders were able to wait (sorry) a little longer. It looks like Google is preparing to put a stop to this, however.

Personal users trying to use the Android or iOS apps are greeted with a blue banner explaining that Hangouts is not long for this world (via 9to5Google). You are encouraged to “Go to Chat in Gmail” and if you press this button, you will be signed out of Hangouts with that account and redirected to the Chat section of Gmail. If you are still actively using the app, it means that you will no longer receive notifications and will no longer be able to send messages. It really is the beginning of the end.

You can always add your account back into the Hangouts app if you really want to enjoy every second of your life, but it will be gone for good soon enough, so maybe it’s time to get used to the new way of doing things first. that you have no choice.

Google is also rolling out a similar message to the web version of the Hangouts app, but it won’t log you out. Instead, it opens a new tab with Google Chat in the hopes that you will forget all about the service you’ve been using for years. It will also prompt you to install the Chat desktop app.

While we know that the enterprise version of Hangouts will stop working later this year, there is no official word on when the service will be shut down for personal accounts. These latest moves suggest it will be sooner rather than later, so don’t expect free accounts to have access any longer than business accounts. The Hangouts will likely be dead by the end of the year, in every sense of the word, so say you better say goodbye now. Check out Ryne’s excellent retrospective if you want to remember and shed a tear.