Google Hangouts

187 'Google Hangouts' stories July 2011 - March 2017

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Hangouts was announced at I/O 2013 and combined the company’s disparate messaging platforms into one unified product. It includes the text elements of Google Talk and Google+ Messenger/Huddle, as well as the video portion of Google+ Hangouts.

Hangouts allows for group conversations with two or more people and can be accessed through Android and iOS apps, as well as the web in Gmail or the dedicated Hangouts site. Users can send images, video, stickers, and location, in addition to having group video calls with multiple people.

Until recently, Hangouts was the default messaging app on Android and handled SMS text messages. However, Google began pushing users to the dedicated Messenger SMS app and is introducing a new messaging app called Allo to replace the messaging parts of Hangouts and Duo for video.

Despite the new apps, Google has noted that Hangouts will remain as the company’s messaging solution for corporate customers.

Head of Product for Allo & Duo says current consumer Hangouts is ‘not going anywhere’

Stephen Hall Mar 10 2017 - 8:05 am PT

Google unveiled its new enterprise-focused Hangouts apps yesterday, but that announcement leaves the big question of what will happen to the current consumer app (which many people use every day). At least for now, Google’s Head of Product for Allo and Duo says that the current consumer Hangouts is “not going anywhere.”

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What are you going to do now that Hangouts is going full-enterprise? [Poll]

Justin Duino Mar 9 2017 - 6:55 pm PT

Earlier today Google filled us in on its plan to bring Hangouts to the Enterprise. Essentially, Google will refocus Hangouts so as to provide G Suite customers with a Slack alternative. This change, though, will remove much of the current app’s core functionality that users rely on.

So now that Google is changing up Hangouts (and assuming the current app goes away), what app do you plan to switch to for your IM and SMS needs?

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Google announces a revamped Hangouts Chat and Meet, aimed at teams and enterprise

Abner Li Mar 9 2017 - 10:46 am PT

With the launch of Allo and Duo, Google telegraphed last year that Hangouts would be moving to a more enterprise focus. Today, the service is finally seeing that major revamp, with the app being split into Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet. The former is a Slack-like group chat tool, while the latter improves the video conferencing experience.

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Google quietly launches ‘Meet by Google Hangouts,’ a new video conferencing app for business

Stephen Hall Feb 28 2017 - 6:32 pm PT

Google has today launched yet another communication app (via TechCrunch), this time for business. It’s called “Meet by Google Hangouts,” and it’s made for high-definition video calls between as many as 30 people. It seems Google may have pushed this live by accident, since its page on the G Suite website still isn’t up. Or perhaps they would just rather keep it quiet…

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Hangouts for Android and desktop updated with redesigned unread message indicators

Abner Li Feb 27 2017 - 10:39 am PT

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.

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Project Fi integration might be coming to Voice, Google is ‘working on a solution’

Stephen Hall Jan 30 2017 - 9:13 am PT

We were recently told by a source that has been reliable in the past (they also tipped us off on VoIP integration coming to Voice, which Google confirmed) that Project Fi support/integration would be one keystone feature for the new Google Voice. That feature obviously didn’t launch last week with the redesigned version 5.0 of the app, but we now have reason to believe that it’s still in the plans…

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Hangouts 16.0 for Android cleans up contacts, removes redundant dedicated list

Abner Li Jan 26 2017 - 5:46 pm PT

Fully rolled out, version 16.0 of Hangouts for Android makes some minor changes to how your contacts are displayed. In addition to the generic “bug fixes and performance improvements,” this update removes some redundancies in the interface.

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Google Voice app to get VoIP calling on Android, possibly signaling move away from Hangouts

Abner Li Jan 26 2017 - 9:40 am PT

While notable, Monday’s update of Google Voice was basically just a Material redesign that lacked any new major functionality. The promise of “regular updates” is more significant, and Google has confirmed to us that one of those upcoming features is VoIP integration.

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As it gears up for enterprise usage, Google makes it easier to create group chats in Hangouts

Ben Schoon Jan 13 2017 - 11:53 am PT

Google Hangouts is a fantastic service, but little by little, it’s fading into the background like the dozen other Google messaging services before it. However, Google has no plans to kill the service, instead wanting to shift its focus to the enterprise customer. As it does that, it’s also moving the features to best fit that use case.

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Google shutting down Hangouts API on April 25th, current apps to cease working

Ben Schoon Jan 6 2017 - 6:15 pm PT

Following the launch of Google’s umpteenth messaging apps — Allo and Duo — many questioned if Google would keep its Hangouts platform alive. The company was quick to answer that Hangouts would indeed stick around, but would shift its focus to the enterprise user instead of the consumer. Today, we’re seeing the first big change from that new focus, the death of the Hangouts app API…

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Google Cloud acquires Limes Audio to improve audio in Hangouts, Chromebox for Meetings

Abner Li Jan 5 2017 - 9:41 am PT

With enterprise products and services taking an ever bigger priority at Google, the number of partnerships and purchases have increased. With the acquisition of Limes Audio, Google hopes to improve the audio experience in Hangouts video conferencing and Chromebox for Meetings.

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Hangouts 15.0 adds GIF image keyboards on Android 7.1+ and fixes notification bug

Abner Li Nov 29 2016 - 2:48 pm PT

A month after introducing app shortcuts, version 15.0 of Hangouts for Android is rolling out with support for sending GIFs through image keyboards in Android 7.1+. Additionally, the update brings a fix for a bug that listed the sender’s name twice in notifications.

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Google Hangouts

Hangouts 14.0 updated with app shortcuts, but no GIF image keyboard

Abner Li Oct 31 2016 - 10:53 pm PT

With many of Google’s apps already updated to support the newest Android 7.1 features, Hangouts is the latest to add app shortcuts. Version 14 sees shortcuts for starting new voice, video, and text chats, but still lacks support for image keyboards and sending GIFs.

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PSA: It’s not just you, Hangouts is having lots of service interruptions

Stephen Hall Oct 26 2016 - 10:07 am PT

Hangouts has been having more problems than usual the last couple days, but according to the G Suite App Status page, the service is now experiencing more interruptions. Like many others, I’ve been experiencing slow load times in the app and on the web, and message sends have been delayed or failed.

“We’re investigating reports of an issue with Google Hangouts. We will provide more information shortly,” the App Status page says as of 12:40 PM EST.

If you’re also experiencing any problems with Hangouts, you’re not alone.

Womp, womp.

No texting for me today! Google hangouts is downhttps://t.co/orgFgffwQZ pic.twitter.com/u6Jg6f3maj

— Jason Inquires (@jasoninquires) October 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/FourthSail/status/791322688920940545

#Hangouts is down again. I'm just waiting for the announcement from #Google that it's never coming back and to switch to Allo. #android

— (((Witz))) (@aj_witz) October 26, 2016

Yes, hangouts is down. https://t.co/aScEkyr0G6 #GoogleHangouts

— Khampasong (@KhampKhant) October 26, 2016

Google’s Pixel ships with Hangouts disabled in favor of Allo and Duo

Stephen Hall Oct 14 2016 - 3:15 pm PT

Google’s Pixel is right around the corner for a lot of pre-orderers, and the nitty gritty details surrounding the device just keep trickling in as more and more people get their hands on one. Today, we’re hearing that Hangouts is disabled by default on the Pixel and Pixel XL in favor of Allo and Duo…

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Google will no longer require OEMs to preload Hangouts on phones, replaces it with Duo

Ben Schoon Oct 7 2016 - 9:05 am PT

Google Hangouts

Even though we already know Google Hangouts isn’t fully going away (at least not yet), things aren’t looking good. According to an email sent to Google Mobile Services (GMS) partners, Hangouts will no longer be required to be preloaded on new smartphones (via Android Police)…

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Hangouts 13.0 for Android adds support for Chrome Custom Tabs

Abner Li Sep 22 2016 - 10:21 pm PT

Google has repeatedly reiterated that Hangouts will remain as an enterprise-focused messaging solution after Allo and Duo’s release. Version 13 is rolling out now to Android with support for Chrome Custom Tabs and other minor tweaks.

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Google’s new look for the Hangouts Chrome extension is now rolling out

Ben Schoon Sep 9 2016 - 9:19 am PT

After announcing the death of Chrome apps for Windows, macOS, and Linux, Google was quick to reveal that the Google Hangouts extension for Chrome would be adopting a new UI that looks exactly like the Chrome app. As of yesterday, that new UI is rolling out to all users.

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Hangouts Chrome extension updated with tablet-like UI, enabled by default on Oct 16

Abner Li Aug 25 2016 - 9:54 pm PT

Following the announcement of Allo, Google reiterated that Hangouts would remain as an enterprise-focussed messaging solution. To that extent, Hangouts will continue to receive new features, including an updated Chrome extension that introduces a tablet-like UI.

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Hangouts for Android adds ‘/shruggie’ command, hints at future enhanced notification controls

Ben Schoon Aug 24 2016 - 6:23 am PT

In a fairly minor update, Google has jumped Hangouts up to version 12.0. Within this update there’s nothing too new, but we do get one fairly long-awaited feature, the “/shruggie” command which was added to the desktop version a while back.

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Hangouts isn’t going anywhere, will shift focus to enterprise following Allo and Duo releases

Ben Schoon Aug 16 2016 - 6:31 am PT

With Duo going live this morning and the release of Allo right around the corner, the future seems unclear for the future of Google Hangouts. As great as the service can be, Allo and Duo duplicate its functionality and even add on to it with more features. Until now Google hasn’t said much regarding the service’s future except that Allo and Duo wouldn’t be replacing it. Today we’ve learned more about Google’s plan for the service through Google’s VP of communication products, Nick Fox.

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Hangouts on Air will move from Google+ to YouTube Live next month

Ben Schoon Aug 15 2016 - 2:55 pm PT

Over the past several months we’ve been seeing Google moving various services away from Google+. The app no longer comes pre-loaded on Android devices, you no longer need a Google+ account for YouTube or Google Play, and now the company is cutting another chunk out of the social network, Hangouts on Air.

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You can now quickly invite people to a Hangouts group chat with unique links

Ben Schoon Jul 14 2016 - 9:26 pm PT

After picking up new updates on both Android and iOS earlier this week, Google Hangouts is now picking up a new feature for group chats — the ability to join via a unique link…

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PSA: Project Fi, Google Hangouts offering free calls to France in wake of recent attack

Ben Schoon Jul 14 2016 - 8:34 pm PT

After a tragic attack in Nice, France, Google has announced tonight that it will be offering free voice calls to the country. These free calls will be available through Google Hangouts (Google Voice) as well as Project Fi. For those in the area, Google will also be pushing Google Now cards with critical updates on the situation.

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