Today, the confusing, intimidating pile of Google Messaging services is bigger than it has ever been, with Google Chat, Google Messages/RCS, Google Voice/Project Fi, and separate messaging services in Photos, Messages, Pay, Assistant, Stadia, Maps, and Phone.
first three - still around
Photos - yep
Messages - duh
Pay - I couldn’t tell you as moved out of Pay when Wallet rebranded to Pay and then Google inexplicably released a second app called Wallet
Assistant - I think this technically doesn’t count since you can’t message people
Stadia - RIP, thoughts and prayers to the five people who used it
Maps - Took a bit of clicking around to find a business near me that used it, but, yeah. Still there.
Phone - The most baffling thing on this list. Even ArsTechnica in the article doesn’t know if this is the same service as the above Maps chat or not. I’ve never seen this, so hopefully it was a short lived experiment that never took off… but maybe someone else here has seen it recently?
Welp, never mind, not that out of date.
These clowns want to push a messaging standard. Jump to RCS, Google says. Hey, Google. How about you standardize your shit first. Nearly all of these could be collapsed into a single messaging platform with little integrations into your other services via the Messages app (aka sent as links and displayed as integrations in compatible devices).
This is almost certainly totally out of date.
Assistant- I think this technically doesn’t count since you can’t message peopleStadia- RIP, thoughts and prayers to the five people who used itWelp, never mind, not that out of date.
These clowns want to push a messaging standard. Jump to RCS, Google says. Hey, Google. How about you standardize your shit first. Nearly all of these could be collapsed into a single messaging platform with little integrations into your other services via the Messages app (aka sent as links and displayed as integrations in compatible devices).