Does the for GAE XMPP service still work with Hangout/G+ today, to implement a Chatbot?

Question

I've just followed the tutorial on https://cloud.google.com/appengine/docs/java/xmpp/ and https://cloud.google.com/appengine/articles/using_xmpp and written a chatbot on the GAE XMPP service, assuming/hoping that I could now connect to it using the Google Hangout IM (that shows up on the left in GMail and is available on Android).

When I try to add [email protected] it says "Invitation sent", and (sometimes only, on retrying a few times "Invitation failed to send"). I've seen some posts on the web saying that "Google+ Hangout is no longer based on XMPP", so can the GAE XMPP service not be used for building a chatbot available easily from the GMail IM and Android (anymore) ?

Would using a non-Google XMPP web and Android app work? (Any recommendations?)

Does the (old) "Google Talk" still exist? How do you access it on the web and an Android?

Or a I just doing something wrong in the code? I've used xmpp_message & xmpp_error but NOT xmpp_presence nor xmpp_subscribe, as my understanding of the GAE XMPP service documentation was that it should auto accept invites?

Monteverdi

Hey Vorburger, any update on this issue? – Fiddlededee

same problem happen to me – Reptilian

Answer 1

Just found the solution. If you switch to the old chat in your Google Hangout chat you can access to Google Talk again. In this way you are able to send out invitation and chat with your bot!

UPDATE: to switch to the old Google Talk chat you should click on your name in the Google Hangout chat, then in the bottom of the window opened there is "Help", "Feedback" and "Revert to old chat". Click on the last one and it goes back to Google Talk

Reptilian

How exactly do you switch to the old (GTalk) chat in a Hangout? – Monteverdi

Answer 2

(Jun 2021): This question is outdated:

• Old/classic Hangouts didn't have an API
• Google+ has been shutdown
• The App Engine XMPP service was shutdown in 2017
• etc.

However developers arriving at this question today:

• A "new" Hangouts service with an API and bot development framework was announced in 2018 as Google Hangouts Chat with both launch and general developer videos I helped produce.
• Since then, it's been shortened to simply "Google Chat". Also see its developer documentation pages.
• You can write your bots in any language you want, and you can host your bots on App Engine or any other hosting platform, including any backend used for your Android app.

Factual