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> It was never in the same app.

Yes it was. Look at the last screenshot in this article from 2008:

https://techcrunch.com/2008/06/06/the-evolution-of-pre-launc...

I was talking about mobile app. It has a tab bar at the bottom with now chat section, the option to remove it is buried rather deep in the settings.

Web version of Gmail did have a Gtalk widget, but it could be collapsed / hidden with a couple of easy clicks

Maybe I’m looking at the wrong screenshot, but they’re all web desktops. I assumed the previous poster was talking about mobile apps, where screen real estate is really at a premium.

The previous poster was probably talking about web Gmail where they recently added sidebar with Chat and Meet. The Gmail app, iOS and Android, doesn't have that. They did put "Chat" pane in the iPad Gmail app but seem to have removed it.

> web Gmail where they recently added sidebar with Chat and Meet

Chat has always been there though. I've used it every day for almost a decade on my work gmail account (I don't open the separate page or use a standalone client).

The web app used to have a Hangouts sidebar which was replaced by a Hangouts Chat sidebar which was eventually renamed to just Chat.

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