Google released Hangouts as a communication platform which includes instant messaging, video chat, SMS and VOIP features. What it did was to replace three messaging products that Google had implemented within its services, including Google Talk, Google+ Messenger (Huddle), and Hangouts, a video chat system present within Google+.
Hangouts was to unified its messaging offers where before was fragmented. Hangouts was also the face of the company in the growing competition in the messaging industry against Facebook Messenger, iMessage and WhatsApp.
The app met poor reception, especially because of its technology's protocol, its tight integration with Google+ and security design.
Hangouts was originally a feature of Google+, before becoming a standalone product in 2013.
It was then in 2016 that Google started developing Hangouts into a product aimed at enterprise communication, by making it part of the G Suite line of products, that consists of two primary products: Google Meet and Google Chat.
Google then started to add features, like Google Voice, its IP telephony product, into Hangouts, stating that Hangouts is designed to be "the future" of Voice.
In 2020, Google is shutting down the classic G Suite version of Hangouts, but will continue to support the consumer version of classic Hangouts.