Google to shut down its first instant messaging platform this week

Google has announced that it will shut down its instant messaging service called Google Talk on June 16. For those who do not know, Google Talk was the tech giant’s original instant messaging service that was initially designed to help Gmail users to have a quick conversation but over the years it was replaced by newer Google services such as the Hangouts and Google Chat.

The company started retiring the Google Talk service in 2013. At that time, Hangouts was the replacement service offered by the company which is also now obsolete. Google Talk allows users to communicate via text and voice.

"We are winding down Google Talk. On June 16, 2022, we will end our support for third-party apps, including Pidgin and Gajim, as we announced in 2017," Google said in a blogpost.

"To continue to chat with your contacts, we recommend using Google Chat. You can more easily plan with others, share and collaborate on files, and assign tasks with Chat`s enhanced Spaces feature. You also have the same strong phishing protections we build in Gmail and accessibility features like screen reader support," it added.

If you try to sign in to Google Talk on or after June 16, 2022, you'll get a sign in error. The tech giant is recommending users to switch to Google Chat. You can access Google Chat on the web and mobile, or you can add it to your Gmail inbox to collaborate in one place.