Google Talk is surprisingly still operational, but that ends on Thursday

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The instant-messaging service you probably haven't used in a long time is shutting down. Third-party XMPP clients like Pidgin and Gajim were still able to access it even after the migration of users to the new messaging platform.

Three days from now, the last lines of life support will be cut off. In a message on Talk's support page, the company said it would no longer support third-party apps. The sign-in error will be seen by users after the 16th. If you still want to use Pidgin through the internet, Pidgin recommends that you use the "chat" option.

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A very brief history of every Google messaging app

In 2005, a way for users to send instant messages through Gmail was created by the company. Voice and video calls were allowed. The service was discontinued in favor of the new messaging service called Hangouts.

In typical fashion, it had to change things for users again, this time by changing the name of its chat service to "chat" in 2020 and then replacing the original chat service with "chat" for workspace users earlier this year. There is a warning on the web that says "Hangouts is going away soon", with links that will take you to a chat room.

People who used third-party apps to access the internet are being encouraged to use the internet to chat with one another. If past history is any indication, then it won't be long before we see a shift in the focus of the company from messaging to something else.