Google Talk is a heavily used application, while it’s been updated for the most part to Google Hangouts, it seems that there are still users out there using the older style platform and as of this afternoon, when those users attempted to contact users using hangouts, their messages have gone astray and been received by users not intended.
The team at ZDNet has found multiple instances of GChat issues when doing a search on Twitter and it seems to be affecting mainly the GChat client as opposed to Hangouts – all the more reason to upgrade to Hangouts – but nonetheless, Google is investigating, at least according to their App Status Dashboard, which acknowledges the issue.
When asked for comment on the issue, Google gave ZDNet this statement
We’re investigating reports of an issue with Google Talk. We’re sorry for the inconvenience. For further updates please refer to the Apps Status Dashboard.
There’s no eta for a fix, but if you have encountered the bug, then keep an eye on the dashboard and probably best not to send anything really sensitive by the platform until it’s actually resolved.
Update: Google has advised that the issue has been resolved, the Apps Status Dashboard now has a message that reads :
Our team is continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by 9/26/13 5:30 AM with more information about this problem. Thank you for your patience.
The issue has been resolved and all services are gradually returning to normal. We will update when full service is restored.
The next update is due in 45 minutes according to the sames status message.
Update – 27/09 11am : latest from the Google Apps Dashboard is that they have now identified the issue :
Google Talk service has already been restored for some users, and we expect a resolution for all users in the near future. Please note this time frame is an estimate and may change.
We have since identified the problem and are currently applying a fix. We’re very sorry to anyone affected and will provide an update when full service is restored. Earlier today we identified an issue with Google Talk messages sent between 22:00 PDT and 01:30 PDT. Any messages sent after 01:30 PDT are unaffected.
We’ll keep an eye on this one.
Have you had issues with Google Talk this afternoon?
Seems I am the only person to notice absolutely no difference between Talk and Hangout other than the name.
Maybe I am hanging out wrong?
Hangouts is a waste of time. I have been hoping it would get better but it hasn’t yet. If google keep pushing G+ on people they will use it less.
“Hangouts” is such an “uncool” name too.
Our company uses Goggle Apps for the enterprise, most desktops have Gtalk installed on them and there has been mass confusion today between users talking from phones to desktops.
I hope they fix it soon.
I have a mate who wont upgrade. Can’t blame him too much.
All the more reason to avoid Hangups and stick with something that’s worked for years, Google Talk.
Let’s face it, Hangups has always been something of a dog since it was foist onto people – extremely slow, feature poor, and reliant on the facebook clone for functionality.
Actually Hangouts has completely changed the way we communicate here at Ausdroid, it’s been reliable and the integration with some of the Google services we use has been invaluable
There are detractors for each new update but for some people there have been issues. Google however has decided that Google Talk will be updated to Hangouts so if the featureset and functionalities don’t suit your requirements you may need to find another platform and there’s no shortage out there – perhaps BBM may suit?
I don’t get all the Hangout hate either. I’ve found it to be pretty great, and wish more of more friends were using it. I like being able to start a conversation at work on the computer, continue it on my phone on the bus home and resume at home on my laptop or tablet and then start a hangout and have it all in the one place. The fragmentation before was ridiculous. The one fault is the name, it’s not as usable as something like Skype ‘I’ll Skype you’ ‘We were Skyping’ ‘We spoke over skype’. I get that… Read more »
you could do all this with gtalk – except it worked. It also had this awesome feature were you could see who was online. It also didn’t list every person who you have ever communicated with a massive unmaintainable list…
Another feature is delivering messages with random delays. My phone just received and notified me of with a message I received and readreplied to on my tablet yesterday…
Latest update to Hangouts is that you can see who is online now. I also never have delays with Hangouts.
how do you tell who is online? It just lists all the people I have on Gtalk… What about when someone was AFK and they would go orange
Fine, you get on with it. However many, including me, think this is a step backwards from something that worked, to something that doesn’t. It’s incredibly slow to start (my guess is because its syncing with the server) and offers nothing above GTalk that I care about – without getting G+ – which I don’t want because it’s a pointless facebook clone. Trying to force me onto it just annoys me even more. Maybe, rather than me jumping ship because a Google designer couldn’t do a good job, we instead listen to the users and have another go at an… Read more »
Google Hangouts gets an update yesterday, and now there’s issues with Hangouts receiving messages from Google Talk. To me, this does not seem coincidental at all. It seems very much like Google trying to force Talk holdouts to abandon ship.