Hangouts for Android and desktop updated with redesigned unread message indicators

Even with Allo and a revamped Voice, Google is still actively working on Hangouts and refocusing it towards enterprise use. The latest update to the Android and desktop clients add redesigned unread message indicators to help users quickly jump around in threads.

Both buttons appear as overlays near the top or bottom of conversations that feature a lot of activity. When opening a chat, users are usually taken to the most up-to-date messages.

With the ‘Jump to Last Read’ button, you’ll be taken to the last message you were looking at, regardless of device. As such, this provides a quicker way to chronologically read through messages rather than manually scrolling.

While sifting through past conversations, there is also a new button that updates you to new messages. Featuring an exact count, tapping it will take users to the newest messages, though not necessarily the bottom of the thread.

These changes are already live in the iOS app and are rolling out to both the Android app (version 17 or later) and desktop/web, including Hangouts windows in Gmail.