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2005 - 2022
Google Talk
“A green dot meant someone was there.”
- Birth year
- 2005
- Shutdown year
- 2022
- Lifespan
- 17 years
- Peak era
- 2005–2022
- Company
- Category
- Messaging
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What Was It?
Google Talk brought instant messages and voice conversations to Google accounts. Its small desktop client and Gmail chat presence made quick exchanges feel like a natural extension of email.
Talk occupied the space between sending an email and arranging a longer call. Seeing a contact available made a quick question possible, and its place in Gmail connected that conversation to an account people were already using. The small desktop client supplied another familiar doorway.
Its ending happened in stages rather than on one universal date. The replacement of familiar interfaces and the later retirement of third-party access describe different parts of that transition, which is why memories of when Talk disappeared can vary.
Things You Probably Forgot
- Talk supported third-party messaging clients.
- The Gmail chat experience was often called Gchat.
The Story
- 2005 Google Talk brought instant messages and voice conversations to Google accounts.
- 2017 The Gmail and Android Talk experiences give way to Hangouts, years before the last third-party connections are closed.
- 2022 Google retired the familiar Talk interfaces in favor of Hangouts in 2017; support for remaining third-party Talk clients ended in June 2022. The end year here marks that final service endpoint.
How It Died
Google retired the familiar Talk interfaces in favor of Hangouts in 2017; support for remaining third-party Talk clients ended in June 2022. The end year here marks that final service endpoint.
What Replaced It?
Memories
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