How to Use Google Hangouts (Brief Guide)

James Orublig / Updated 8 September 2023 8:44 am / 4 minute

Google Hangouts is a communication service developed by Google to contact your friends, family members, or someone else. It allows its users to send text, voice, or video. So, in this guide, we are going to talk about how to use Hangouts. Let’s start!

Contents

How to Use Google Hangouts On Desktop

Google Hangouts allows us to start a conversation on our desktop, like WhatsApp Web. So, here are the steps you can follow to use Hangouts on your computer;

Open the hangouts.google.com page.
Click the ‘New Conversation +’ button at the top part of the screen.
Enter or choose the name or email address of the person you want to talk to.
Type your message. Besides, you can add emojis, photos, or videos.
Press the ‘Enter’ key on your keyboard.

If you want to send another message to another user, click the New Conversation button and follow the same steps.

How to Use Hangouts On Android Mobile Devices

Google Hangouts has its application for both Android phones and tablets. You can easily download the Hangouts app from Google Play.

Open the Hangouts application on your Android phone or tablet.
Tap the ‘Add’ button and then New Conversation at the bottom right of the page.
Enter or choose the name of the person you want to talk to.
Type your message. Besides, you can add emojis, photos, or videos.
Tap the ‘Send’ button.

WhatsApp vs. Hangouts

Hangouts and WhatsApp are the most frequently used communication services to send messages, videos, emojis, stickers, and videos. So, let’s look at the separations between these two popular communication platforms!

Chats: There isn’t any such big difference between WhatsApp and Hangouts. You can use emojis and stickers on both platforms.
Setup: WhatsApp can be easily downloaded on iOS and Android devices, and only your phone number is required. Also, there is a WhatsApp Web that can be used to sync your messages between your mobile device and computer. The main disadvantage of WhatsApp is that you can not use your WhatsApp account on multiple devices. On the other side, Hangouts can be used not only on mobile devices but also on desktops at the same time.
Reliability: We can say that Hangouts is more reliable than WhatsApp. You can hide your profile picture, status, and last seen information on WhatsApp but, do you think it is enough to preserve your privacy? You can not talk to anyone without his/her phone number, and you can not use it without your phone number. On the other side, to use Hangouts, you don’t need to enter your phone number. When you don’t feel secure, you can easily deactivate your Hangouts account and all Google services.

Using Google Hangouts In Short

Google Hangouts is a platform developed by Google to contact your friends or colleagues, send messages and videos. You can create groups and start a new conversation with multiple people at the same time. Whenever you wish, you can leave the group and add/remove members of a group. People can use the Google Hangouts application to send and get faster messages on their Android devices.

Frequently Asked Questions About

Is Hangouts free to its users?

Yes, you can use Google Hangouts without any payment.

How can you block someone on Google Hangouts?

Sometimes, you may need to block someone on Hangouts. It is an easy and quick process:
Open the Hangouts application on your Android device and a Hangout conversation.
Tap the ‘More’ button and then the ‘People’ option.
Choose the user you wish to block and tap the ‘Block’ button.
That’s it. To unblock him/her, open the Hangout application> tap the ‘Menu’ button> tap the ‘Settings’ option> choose your accounts> tap Blocked contacts> tap the ‘Unblock’ button next to the person you want to unblock.

Can you start a new conversation on Google Hangout with multiple people?

Yes, you can. So, open the ‘ hangouts.google.com’ page > click the ‘New conversation +’ button > Choose the ‘New Group’ option > choose the names, email addresses, or phone numbers of the people you wish > click the message.

How do you leave a Google Hangouts group?

Open the hangouts.google.com page > choose the group conversation you wish to leave > click the ‘Settings’ option at the top right of your text chat > Choose ‘Leave conversation’ and Click ‘Leave.’ That’s it! If you leave the group, you can’t receive new messages and view previous messages, but people will continue seeing the messages you sent.

How do you remove your Hangout account on your Android device?

Anytime you want, you can remove your existing Hangout account on your Android devices. Open the Hangouts application > tap the ‘Menu’ button (three horizontal lines) > tap the arrow next to your Google account > select Manage Accounts and then Google > tap the ‘More’ and then ‘Remove’ button.

James Orublig

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Hi, my name is James but my friend calls me JamesTheNews since I always have the latest news about social media. Follow my blogs to learn every bit of trickery there is to social media.