Google Hangouts is getting some new features today, although it’s not quite the Material Design makeover we’ve all been expecting. There’s quite a few new features included which you can check out while waiting for what’s sure to be a great new makeover.
In this latest update, which was announced by Rhett Robinson, a Software Engineer at Google, the Hangouts update includes new ways ‘to express yourself’. Apparently all the rage on messaging platforms, Hangouts now includes stickers. Stickers are bright, cheerful and colourful ways to add a little something extra into your conversations, above and beyond what you can do with Emoji. There’s 16 Sticker packs to start with and more to follow soon.
Also included in the update are new filters for video calls, simply swipe during a call and you can select from sepia, vignette, black & white, and more.
Google has been asking for your phone number in hangouts for a while now, and if you know someone’s phone number you will now be able to connect with them through hangouts. Google is also adding ‘last seen’ time stamps, so you know when people are online and ready to chat.
Last, but not least is improved location sharing. And it’s not just the way you can select nearby locations instead of just sharing a map with a pin, Hangouts will automatically detect when someone asks and provide a link to share you location – cool.
According to Robinson, ‘We’ve added a few other surprises to this Hangouts update’, so if you find some new stuff, let us know. The update will roll out through Google Play over the next few hours, although the ‘timestamps’ feature will take a few weeks – or of course you can side-load the update, which is of course available now on APKMirror. If you’re an iOS user, this update will be heading your way soon.
For the ones who are complaining about work on real features I’m with ya. But old mate said on Reddit that they have more coming in the next week. He was pretty clear on that. Stay tuned. It’s possible he was only talking about Google Voice stuff but ya never know.
what about the new google messaging app, no need for hangouts and is a great SMS app. have not seen anything about it on here yet but it is good. hated hangouts so Google must have gotten the message and created a new one.
They’re absolutely different. Hangouts is irreplaceable IMHO.
How about they make the app fast and smooth first?
I jumped aboard messenger, what’s the main differences? Which one would google be likely to stick with?
type “woot” or “happy birthday” into a chat
“woohoo” does something similar to “woot”.. wonder if there are others!
Focusing on all the really important things… Not.
Where’s the ability to include more than 100 people in a thread? Or to boot someone out? Or how about reducing the heavy data cost of running this app?
Ingress users are all too aware that Hangouts is in need of a lot more than stupid stickers.