Video Hangouts don’t need Google+ accounts anymore

A small but significant update makes its way to Hangouts app this week. Users who want to join multi-way video calls no longer need to have Google+ accounts to use them. It works for both iOS and Android. But this isn’t the only update coming for Hangouts, Google is planning to refresh the messaging service further. We’ll keep you posted on other changes.

Source: Google | Via: Android Central

Google takes out the need to have Google+ account to use Hangouts

Google is making it easier for business people to sign up for its Apps for Business service. The tech giant has taken out the need to have Google+ profile to use Google Hangouts. It would seem they finally got that some business users do not want to expose too much personal information to use the chat service. According to Google, they are promising 99.9% uptime for paying users. Let’s see how spot on that promise is.

Source: Lifehacker

Google Hangouts will reportedly integrate Voice

Rumours are swirling that Google plans to ax its Google Voice service to make it part of Google Hangouts. There is supposedly an option on Android Hangouts app to let users migrate Google Voice to Hangouts. This means you can send and receive voice mail and texts from Hangouts instead of Voice.

According to CNet, a product manager for Google+’s team that handles Hangouts already hinted about this possible integration over a year ago. Nikhyl Singhal said their team was working on adding outbound and inbound call support for Hangouts. However, Google is not confirming the rumours at the moment. 

Google takes out plug-in requirement to use Hangouts on Chrome

Annoyed with having to download too many plug-ins to get sites or apps to run? Well, Google is making it at least easy for you to at least use Hangouts on the Chrome browser. Coming in a few weeks, Google’s group video chat service will run instantly on Chrome without the need for any plugins. Those on Chrome Canary or on other developer builds of Chrome have access to the update now.