We've already known for a while that Google is killing off Hangouts. But Google hasn't announced when it would be shuttered. It looks like the company is taking steps to limit access to the app and even on the Google Hangouts website. Google Hangouts users with free personal accounts see a banner stating, "Hangouts is being replaced by Google Chat." Users also see a "Learn more" button that takes them to a support article explaining the switch from Hangouts to Chat, along with a button to "Switch to Chat in Gmail."