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Google Voice may be getting sucked into Hangouts

A new option is added to the Hangouts app that lets users "migrate Google Voice to Hangouts." Could this be the death of Voice?

Dara Kerr Former senior reporter
Dara Kerr was a senior reporter for CNET covering the on-demand economy and tech culture. She grew up in Colorado, went to school in New York City and can never remember how to pronounce gif.
Dara Kerr

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Google Hangouts app for mobile. Jason Cipriani/CNET

Google may be gearing up to give the ax to Google Voice. While still unconfirmed, it appears the company is making moves to merge Voice into Google Hangouts, according to a blog that's unaffiliated with Google called Google Operating System.

Apparently, the tech giant has added an option to its Android Hangouts app that allows users to "migrate Google Voice to Hangouts." Selecting this option lets users send and receive voice mail and texts from Hangouts rather than Voice.

Google Voice has become virtually useless in this new age of all types of messaging, social media, and Hangouts, so it makes sense the company would make the transition.

Nikhyl Singhal, a product manager in the Google+ team that manages Hangouts, hinted at the Voice to Hangouts integration over a year ago. In a Google+ post, he said the team was working to support both outbound and inbound calls in Hangouts.

"Hangouts is designed to be the future of Google Voice, and making/receiving phone calls is just the beginning," Singhal wrote. "Future versions of Hangouts will integrate Google Voice more seamlessly."

When CNET contacted Google for comment, a spokesperson said, "We have nothing to announce at this time."