Google Hangouts

Hangouts, since the beginning, has separated incoming messages into two categories. Either the app detects that you probably know the person that’s contacting you (by way of you circling them, them having your email address, or otherwise) and lets them send you a message directly, or it puts incoming messages into an “Invitation” that you have to accept. How this works has never been customizable, but now Google is letting you customize these invitations to make them more or less strict.

Here’s the image that Jordanna Chord shared:

In the new options, you can choose to go with Google’s recommended system, or you can opt to customize three different categories of incoming messages yourself. If you’d like, you can require that only invitations can be sent — regardless of if the sender has your email/phone number or not. Or, if you’re more of a free spirit, you can conversely use this opportunity to open up your inbox to any and all messages and allow everyone to contact you directly. Personally, I like the way Google has things set up. But I also like options. Options are good.

These settings will be available across the Hangouts apps, and of course, those who are using the Hangouts app on the desk through Google+ or otherwise will be able to take advantage of them as well.

Hangouts 4.0 leaks again, but you can start conversations from Android Wear right now

Stephen Hall Jul 30 2015 - 10:49 am PT

We saw leaked screenshots of both the upcoming Hangouts Android app and its Android Wear counterpart, and now the app has leaked again (via Phandroid). Everything looks basically the same, and there’s not much new to see in this leak. And while Phandroid seems to claim that their version of the app is somehow special, the currently-available build of Hangouts now lets users send messages from Android Wear…
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Google Hangouts now lets you drag and drop images on the web

Jordan Kahn Jul 9 2015 - 1:33 pm PT

Google Hangouts on the web now lets users drag and drop images directly from their computer or web browser. That goes for the little chat window within your Gmail inbox and through the standalone Hangouts Chrome app. Googler Mayur Kamat shared the news and the image above demonstrating the new feature through a post on Google+ today.
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Hangouts hits the 1 billion install milestone on the Play Store

Stephen Hall Jun 25 2015 - 5:55 am PT

Hangouts, Google’s messaging platform in long need of an overhaul, has today passed 1 billion installs on the Google Play Store. The app is the 11th app to hit this milestone, followed most recently by Facebook Messenger and Google Play Books. Other than Hangouts, there are 7 apps from Google that have 1 billion, and 3 apps owned by Facebook.

Passing 1 billion installs isn’t very exciting considering the app comes pre-installed as the default messaging client on most Android phones, but it’s worth noting that not all of Google’s stock apps have come anywhere close to this milestone. Google Docs, for example, which comes shipped on all Nexus devices and others, is only in the 50-100 million range.

Meanwhile, we’re waiting patiently for the long-anticipated overhaul of Hangouts and, just as importantly, its upcoming Android Wear counterpart.

(via Android Police)

Leaked screenshots show the upcoming Hangouts app for Android Wear

Stephen Hall Jun 11 2015 - 1:50 pm PT

The upcoming Hangouts 4.0 update was shown off by Android Police yesterday, but now the publication is sharing images of its Android Wear counterpart—something that, for some, might be even more exciting than the full app. It’s been a long time coming, but it looks like Google is finally preparing to officially bring its popular messaging platform to the wrist…
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Google Hangouts gets improved ‘full-view’ screen sharing

Jordan Kahn Jun 11 2015 - 1:32 pm PT

Google announced today that it’s rolling out an improved experience for sharing your screen with others through its Google Hangouts chat app. Now, when you decide to share your screen with someone else in Hangouts, you’ll get a new “full-view” experience that Google says brings the following two notable improvements:

The screen shared content will use as much visible area of the screen as possible. The thumbnail photos of meeting attendees will overlay the content at the bottom of the screen by default.
A new button will be added to the control bar at the top to allow participants to hide the thumbnail photos of meeting attendees as desired.

The updated experience will be available to anyone that shares their screen using the ‘Present to everyone’ mode in Hangouts as well as when a Hangout member pins a person currently screen sharing.

Leaked images claim to show a redesigned Hangouts app for Android

Chance Miller Jun 10 2015 - 4:15 pm PT

Update: It looks like there’s going to be an Android Wear app too.

Android Police today has shared a handful of images of what are believed show the 4.0 update that is coming to soon to Google’s Hangouts app on Android. The images show a refreshed interface that Google seemingly hopes will silence the complaints regarding the app’s current interface and design.

Google Hangouts Chrome app updated w/ redesigned interface, OS X support

Chance Miller May 21 2015 - 5:41 pm PT

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Google today updated its Hangouts Chrome app with an entirely new interface. Perhaps more notably than that, the app has support for Mac OS X users in addition to the trio of Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS. The UI has been refreshed to be more similar to the Android version of the app, a trend that has been increasingly common for Google services over the past few months.

Google admits Hangouts doesn’t use end-to-end encryption, conversations can be wiretapped

Ben Lovejoy May 12 2015 - 7:09 am PT

Following a Reddit AMA on government surveillance, Google has admitted that while it does encrypt Hangouts conversations, it does not use end-to-end encryption, meaning the company itself can tap into those sessions when it receives a government court order requiring it to do so. This contrasts with the end-to-end encryption used by some services, like Apple’s FaceTime, which cannot be tapped even by the company offering the service.

Motherboard noted that Google has always been vague about the level of encryption offered for Google Hangouts, and that when pressed by principal technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union Christopher Soghoian, the company would say only that messages were encrypted “in transit” …
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Facebook Messenger for Android adds cross-platform video chat support

Mike Beasley Apr 27 2015 - 11:11 am PT

Facebook continues to add new capabilities to its Messenger app today with the launch of a new video calling feature. A new video icon at the top of conversation threads will initiate a call, allowing participants to communicate across platforms over Wi-Fi or LTE connections.

The addition puts Facebook in competition with Google’s Hangouts, Microsoft’s Skype, and other similar services. Interestingly, web-based video chat has been available on the desktop for some time, and was previously powered by Skype.

Google is rolling out Hangouts messaging via Google Voice Search

Stephen Hall Mar 17 2015 - 9:12 am PT

We’ve received a couple of tips this morning that Android users are now suddenly able to send Hangouts messages via Google Voice Search (a feature which is often mistakingly referred to broadly as “Google Now”). It’s not clear when this long-awaited feature began to roll out, but it seems to be a change that Google is making on the server side…

Amid turbulence, Google Plus loses its latest leader – Horowitz again takes over

Seth Weintraub Mar 1 2015 - 5:26 pm PT

TechCrunch:

…confirmed with Google, that David Besbris [above] has left his role as the head of the company’s social and identity product. He has been replaced by Bradley Horowitz, a longtime VP of product for Google+.

Google Plus seems to be in tumult and it sounds like it is being dismantled for its good parts including Photos and Hangouts. Perhaps the feed will turn into a more Twitter-like product. Who knows at this point—we’ll likely get a roadmap at Google I/O in May.

As for new lead Bradley Horowitz, he never really left Google+ through Vic Gundotra’s departure and will probably oversee the split of the units which are said to have already been reduced by half.

Google testing new direct-to-business chat platform powered by Hangouts

Stephen Hall Feb 24 2015 - 2:20 pm PT

Google is testing an interesting new feature in search, as spotted by one Matt Gibstein on Twitter. As you can see in the above screenshot, there’s a small “Chat” icon next to the phone number of a business called “Dizengoff” in Philadelphia—and it looks like clicking it will launch you into a chat session directly with that business via Hangouts.
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Google testing a new virtual ‘Genius Bar’ for Google Play customer service

Stephen Hall Feb 7 2015 - 8:23 am PT

Google has used its Hangouts technology in many ways over the last couple of years, and one big way was the introduction of a new service called “Helpouts” that lets people sell their expertise to others over video conferencing. Now, it looks like Google is bringing Hangouts to a new area: customer service on the Google Play store.

British prime minister says he’ll ban encrypted chat apps if he can’t see your messages

Mike Beasley Jan 12 2015 - 3:15 pm PT

For several months we’ve followed the U.S. government’s attempts to work around encryption in chat apps, even taking the hyperbole to an illogical extreme at one point, but we haven’t yet seen similar threats from other nations… or at least, we hadn’t until today.

British prime minister David Cameron said today that unless the government is given backdoor access to encrypted messaging services, he’s just going to outlaw them:

Google app updated to version 4.1 w/ new Now card settings and more

Chance Miller Jan 7 2015 - 5:11 pm PT

The Google app on Android has received an update today, as part of the company’s Update Wednesday regimen. The update bumps the app to version 4.1.21.1657903 and includes a handful of notable new features, including new Google Now card settings and “Ok Google” setting tweaks.

Hangouts in Gmail gets updated, lets you set a status message

Stephen Hall Dec 17 2014 - 10:45 am PT

Google has updated Hangouts in Gmail today to allow users to set a status message. The Hangouts area, if you weren’t already using it, looks much more like Hangouts in Google+, showing you a small avatar for each contact. There’s also a Hangouts icon at the bottom that will show your most recent Hangouts message, truly bringing a Hangouts-like experience to Gmail–albeit in mini form. To get the updated version of Hangouts in Gmail, just click your own contact name, where you’ll find a button labeled “Try the new Hangouts.” After that, just click your own contact again where you’ll find you can now set a status message (and even use Emoji if you’d like!).

Here’s the official announcement from Google, really bad pun and all:

Status messages for Hangouts in Gmail are “available” starting today! Status messages make it easy to tell your Gmail contacts what you’re doing – whether you’re going on a trip, working from home on Tuesday, or thinking about adopting a puppy.

You can see your friends’ statuses by selecting the “Contacts” tab on the bottom left corner of Hangouts. If you’re not already using Hangouts in Gmail, simply click on your photo above the chat list and select “Try the new Hangouts”.

Hangouts Dialer can now be used as a system dialer, replace your phone for good

Stephen Hall Dec 17 2014 - 10:36 am PT

Before today, if you wanted to replace your phone with the Hangouts Dialer, it was a pain. The app didn’t actually identify itself as a system dialer, meaning that tapping phone numbers within other apps wouldn’t let you dial out via Hangouts. Calling out from the Yelp app or within Chrome meant using your phone’s app, and you were never prompted with the option to go with the Hangouts Dialer instead.

Today we’re launching an update to Hangouts Dialer. You’ll now be able to use Dialer to place calls initiated from other apps like your browser or Maps, directly from the Hangouts Android app. Just select Hangouts Dialer when you’re choosing your call method.

This is all changing with the latest release of Hangouts Dialer, meaning the app will finally be useful for many people. As you can see in the screenshot above, tapping a phone number within another app will now prompt you with the option to go with the standard Phone app or the Hangouts Dialer. And if you’re sure you want to always use Hangouts, you can choose “Always” and never deal with this problem again.

Keep an eye on the Play Store today for the app to be updated.

Hangouts Chrome extension updated with dialer and notification support

Mike Beasley Dec 11 2014 - 9:09 pm PT

Google updated its Hangouts extension for Chrome with two new features today. The first addition is that of a dialer, which allows you to call your contacts quickly right from the extension. It also supports sending SMS messages from your Google Voice account.

When Chrome is set to not always remain on top, you’ll also find that you can now get notifications for new messages. There’s also a new option to minimize the app, along with some bug fixes. You can grab the Hangouts extension from the Chrome Web Store.

Google Hangouts for Android getting smarter with natural language parsing, consolidated contacts

Ben Lovejoy Dec 10 2014 - 4:09 am PT

You’ve long been able to share your location with contacts in Hangouts chats, but the Google Hangouts for Android app is today getting a little smarter, noting when someone has asked where you are and automatically prompting you to share your location on a map.

Google indicates that this is merely the first step in building more intelligence into the app, describing it as “the start of something new.” Future versions of the app are thus likely to recognize more questions, offering the ability to answer them with a single tap.

The latest update to the app – which is rolling out during the course of the day – also offers a number of other new features …
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Google+ Hangouts Drive app discontinued, replaced with inline chat sharing

Stephen Hall Nov 19 2014 - 12:42 pm PT

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Google has today announced that the Google Drive app within Hangouts has been discontinued, and is being replaced by the ability to share links to Drive files directly within the Hangouts chat window.
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Google Voice adds Verizon MMS support, native MMS for photo

Stephen Hall Nov 10 2014 - 11:56 am PT

Google Voice has been granted a pretty decent update today, bringing the service to support MMS via a new carrier: Verizon Wireless. Additionally, Google has added native MMS support to the service for photo messaging and—if you choose to opt for Google Voice in Hangouts—you’ll be able to send photos as MMS like you would with any other normal attachment.

Google Hangouts now offering free calls from India to the US and Canada

Mark Hearn Nov 6 2014 - 7:56 am PT

Today, Google announced that people in India can now make free calls from Hangouts to folks in the US and Canada. The freebie phone calls are available via the web, or the company’s Android and iOS apps.

Google Hangouts scores poorly in EFF’s study of most secure messaging services

Jordan Kahn Nov 5 2014 - 1:17 pm PT