Three days. That’s what you’ve got before Google yanks GBM entry points from Maps and Search on July 15.

If you haven’t started migrating, this post is your triage plan. If you started but aren’t done, keep reading anyway — there are gotchas I ran into that Google’s docs don’t mention.

I’ve been through this migration at DreamFlare. We relied on GBM for customer intake flows. The timeline is tighter than it looks.

The July 15 date gets the headlines. But July 31 is the real cliff: that’s when the API starts returning errors and your partner console access disappears. Two weeks after that, even open conversation threads go dark.

Let me break this into what actually matters.

Two Dates, Three Categories #

The shutdown happens in stages. Each stage hits different entry points differently.

July 15 kills Google-managed entry points. Those chat buttons next to your Google Maps listing or in Search results? Gone. You don’t have to do anything — Google removes them automatically. But you do need to know they’re disappearing. If your support team counts on that traffic, they need to find out before customers start calling your general line instead.

July 31 kills the API. Any programmatic integration — chatbots, CRM hooks, automated routing — stops working. The partner console locks. If you’ve got active conversations, you have a 30-day grace period (ending mid-August) to close them out. After that, the data is gone.

The tricky middle category is brand-managed entry points. These are the ones Google won’t clean up: URLs embedded in your website, QR codes on printed materials, chat widgets you built into your app. Nobody’s coming to remove those. They’ll just break.

Audit Your Entry Points First #

Before you replace anything, figure out what you actually have deployed. This sounds obvious. But I’ve watched two teams scramble because they forgot about entry points embedded in email signatures and PDF invoices.

Here’s what to inventory:

• Website chat widgets pointing to GBM
• URLs in email templates, marketing materials, physical signage
• QR codes on packaging, receipts, or store displays
• API integrations in your CRM or support ticketing system (Zendesk, Salesforce, etc.)
• Mobile app deep links that route to GBM conversations

The Google-managed ones (Maps, Search) don’t need action. Everything else does.

I’d tag each one by effort level: a website widget swap takes an afternoon; reprinting packaging takes weeks.

Replacement Options by Platform #

This is where the “just switch to RCS” advice falls apart. It only works for part of your audience.

Android users: RCS Business Messaging agents. This is the natural successor — Google built it that way. RCS agents let you send rich cards, carousels, suggested replies, all the interactive stuff GBM supported. The migration path from GBM to RCS is relatively clean if you’re already on the Jibe platform. Your conversation designs mostly carry over; the entry point mechanics change.

But RCS agents don’t solve the whole problem. The reach question matters. Your customers on older Android devices or carriers that haven’t enabled RCS get nothing.

And then there’s the elephant in the room.

iOS users: you need a fallback. Apple Messages for Business is the obvious parallel, but it’s a separate integration with its own requirements, approval process, and design patterns. If you’ve never set it up, you’re not finishing that by July 15 (or July 31, for that matter). Be realistic about timelines.

The pragmatic middle ground for most teams: web chat. Intercom, LivePerson, Zendesk — pick your vendor. A web chat widget works across every platform, every browser, every device. It’s not as slick as a native messaging experience, but it catches every customer your native channels miss.

Here’s what I’d actually recommend as a priority stack:

• Immediate (this weekend): Replace all brand-managed URLs and widgets with web chat fallbacks. This takes hours, not days, and guarantees zero downtime for customer conversations.
• Next two weeks: Stand up RCS Business Messaging agents for your Android audience. If you’re already on Jibe, the technical lift is manageable; the business verification and agent approval is what takes time.
• Next quarter: Evaluate Apple Messages for Business for your iOS segment. This isn’t a weekend project.

The API Migration Is Harder Than It Looks #

If you’ve built integrations against the GBM API, the replacement isn’t a find-and-replace job. The RCS Business Messaging API has different authentication, different message schemas, and different delivery semantics.

A few specific things that bit us:

Webhook formats changed. If you’re parsing inbound messages, the payload structure differs. Our message router needed a new adapter layer, not just updated field mappings.

Delivery receipts work differently. GBM gave you read receipts pretty reliably. RCS delivery reporting depends on carrier support, which is inconsistent. Build your flows to handle ambiguity — don’t assume a message was read just because it was delivered.

Agent verification takes time. You can’t just spin up an RCS agent and start messaging. There’s a brand verification process that takes days (sometimes longer). If you haven’t started this, you’re already behind for the July 31 deadline.

Rate limits and throughput. Check the RCS API rate limits against your current GBM traffic. We found our peak volumes needed a queuing layer we didn’t have before.

The Grace Period Trap #

Google’s offering a 30-day grace period after July 15 for wrapping up open conversations. That sounds generous until you think about what it actually means: your entry points are gone, so no new conversations start, but existing threads stay alive for another month.

The trap is assuming you can use this month to finish migrating. You can’t — at least not cleanly. Customers who had active GBM threads will try to continue those conversations. Some will succeed during the grace period. Then those threads die too. If you haven’t redirected those customers to your new channel by then, they’ll just… leave.

My advice: treat July 15 as the real deadline, not July 31. If a customer can’t reach you on July 16, it doesn’t matter that your API still works for two more weeks.

Update Your Google Business Profile #

One thing people forget: removing GBM doesn’t mean removing your Google Business Profile. You still want to be findable on Maps and Search. Make sure your profile has updated contact methods — phone number, website link, whatever replaces the chat button.

If you had GBM set as your primary customer contact method (some businesses did this), the removal leaves a gap. Fill it before July 15 or your listing looks broken.

What I’d Do Differently #

Looking back at our migration, I wish we’d started the RCS agent verification process a month earlier. The technical work was straightforward; the administrative overhead wasn’t. Brand verification, agent approval, carrier registration — each step has its own timeline and none of them are instant.

I also wish we’d instrumented our GBM entry points better before they disappeared. Once those buttons are gone from Search and Maps, you lose visibility into how much traffic they were driving. Export your analytics now. You’ll want that baseline when you’re measuring whether your replacement channels are actually picking up the slack.

The shutdown is frustrating. But honestly, GBM was always an awkward middle ground — a messaging platform that lived inside Google’s search products rather than standing on its own. RCS Business Messaging is a stronger foundation. The migration pain is real, but the destination is better.

Just make sure you get there before the lights go out.