Google Talk

Gchat, the messenger inside your inbox

Replaced
19902026

Google Talk, universally called Gchat, launched in August 2005 and put instant messaging inside Gmail, built on the open XMPP protocol that let any client connect. Superseded by Hangouts in 2013, the service was finally switched off on 26 June 2017.

Timeline [edit]

  1. 2005
  2. 24 August 2005 Launch
    Google Talk launches

    XMPP-based chat with a desktop client, embedded in Gmail soon after.

  3. 2006
  4. 17 January 2006 Feature
    XMPP federation opens

    Any Jabber server can interoperate; the open-protocol high-water mark.

  5. 2013
  6. 15 May 2013 Decline
    Hangouts supersedes Talk

    The migration begins; open federation is left behind.

  7. 2015
  8. 23 February 2015 Decline
    Windows client discontinued

    The original desktop app is retired.

  9. 2017
  10. 26 June 2017 Shutdown
    Google Talk decommissioned

    Remaining users land in Hangouts.

The site through time

Browse talk.google.com as it was, via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine:

2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 Full archive →

Ownership [edit]

Google 2005–2017 Founded Replaced by Hangouts, then Chat

Why it shut down [edit]

Official line: Google decommissioned Google Talk on 26 June 2017, completing the migration of remaining users to Hangouts.

Our analysis: Google Talk won by living inside Gmail, and its open XMPP protocol made it the darling of the interoperable internet. Hangouts replaced it with something closed, and the twelve-year lineage from Talk through Hangouts to Chat became the emblem of Google's messaging strategy chaos.

History [edit]

The chat that lived in your email

Google Talk arrived on 24 August 2005, a year after Gmail, as a lightweight Windows client and, crucially, a chat box embedded straight into the Gmail sidebar. Nobody had to install anything or add contacts; the people you emailed were simply there, online, one click from a conversation. "Gchat" became office and campus vocabulary, and the status message became a minor art form.

Just as important was what it stood for: Google Talk spoke XMPP (Jabber), an open standard, and in 2006 opened server-to-server federation. Any Jabber client (Pidgin, Adium, Trillian) could talk to Gchat users. For the open-protocol internet, it was proof that a giant could play fair.

Closed, merged, decommissioned

Hangouts absorbed Talk in May 2013, dropping full XMPP federation along the way, a retreat that open-standards advocates never forgave. The old Windows client held on until February 2015, and diehards kept routing third-party clients into the aging backend until Google announced in March 2017 that Talk would be decommissioned on 26 June 2017. On that day, twelve years of Gchat quietly became Hangouts, which itself would die in 2022, replaced by Chat: three generations of Google messengers, each burying the last.

Similar projects

ICQ The messenger that gave you a number 1996–2024 MSN Messenger The sound of nudges after school 1999–2014 AIM Away messages and slammed doors 1997–2017 Skype The app that made calling the world free 2003–2025 Meebo Every messenger, in one browser tab 2005–2012 Yahoo Messenger Booted from the chat room one last time 1998–2018

Sources [edit]

  1. The days of Google Talk are over TechCrunch 24 March 2017 [archived]
  2. Google Talk to Be Shut Down on June 26 BleepingComputer 27 March 2017 [archived]

Last verified: 11 August 2026. Spotted an error? Suggest an edit (corrections with sources are reviewed and applied).