This is interesting, so it's based on address? I am also a Hangouts user and never did actual 'couchsurfing' so seeing it disappear esp. in countries like Vietnam or Thailand is a sad thought. Still, having this paywall slapped on for the majority of users means that a lot of 'casual users' like me who open the app occassionally will fall away, which then means far less people available on Hangouts.

Maybe someone else will step in and build a Hangout clone? Their app is a massive battery hog full of bugs, and I dread opening it every time I get a new message.