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I have been a die-hard user of the old Google chat, primarily because it let me add non-Gmail users to chat with them through the GChat interface.

Unfortunately I've started seeing this banner:

Google Talk will be replaced with Hangouts on June 26, 2017.

Tip: If you like the look of Google Talk, try the "dense roster" setting in Hangouts.

It looks like I'm going to not be able to keep living in the glory days of 2008 chat anymore.

Is there a way to chat with non-Gmail users in the new Hangouts? I've not seen these conversations in my Android Hangouts, either, so I'm not really optimistic.

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    are these non-gmail users users without a google account or users with google account but no gmail address?
    – Leo Wattenberg
    May 4, 2017 at 14:32
  • @LEOXD they were exchange Lync users at my previous company. I was able to add lync contacts in gmail and then chat with them.
    – enderland
    May 4, 2017 at 14:41

2 Answers 2

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Yes, You can chat with non-Gmail user but the condition is this that they are using:

Google's G Suite for Business and they are not related to any other provider like yahoo, hotmail they can be from a particular company id e.g. "[email protected]" and he is on G Suite then you can send and chat together.

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You can invite non-Gmail users (e.g. those who do not have a Google Account) to a Hangouts call. In general, you cannot invite non-Gmail users to anything else (e.g. chat conversation).

You can find more out about how to invite a non-gmail user to a video call here.

However when using the "Hangout" app on mobile, you can send normal SMS messages through the App which can be sent to any phone number regardless of whether they have a gmail account. This however may cost you sms charges (varies by carrier).

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    This doesn't really seem like an answer to my question (?).
    – enderland
    May 3, 2017 at 20:49
  • "you cannot invite non-Gmail users to anything else (e.g. chat conversation)"
    – SleepingGod
    May 6, 2017 at 13:45

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