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Hangouts for Android v11 finally adds video messaging [Update: And removes merged conversations]

Update: Google has confirmed that Hangouts v11 removes the ability to merged SMS and Hangouts conversations into a single thread. Google says they have done this “because it caused user confusion and had low usage”.


After what seems like an eternity, Google has finally updated Hangouts for Android with video messaging capabilities with version 11 of the app. Hangouts for iOS gained this same functionality early this year and after months of waiting, Android users finally have access…

Hangouts v11 hasn’t hit Google Play just yet, but an APK has made its way to the web to give us early access. Just like sending a picture, the option to send videos will lie on the bottom bar. A simple tap will open up your camera to record and then send the video via Hangouts. As the video sends you’ll be able to see upload progress and processing before the video can be played back through other apps on your device (gallery, Google Photos, etc).

Just today Google updated Hangouts on iOS to support videos up to 2 minutes,  but for now it seems Android will be limited to only 1 minute. The Hangouts for iOS update also brought other things, such as the ability to boot others from group Hangouts, and this Android update also brings that feature.

After sideloading the APK myself I haven’t had any luck actually sending a video, but that issue should be resolved once Google officially rolls out this update via Google Play.

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