SMS and IM Can Now be Controlled from One App... Here's How

 

A major new update took place over at Google HQ a couple of weeks ago, one that promises to streamline the interaction between the company’s various messaging platforms. The move is essentially Google’s response to Facebook’s Messenger app, which has had a dedicated page for some time. 

Until August 18th, anyone using the messaging service Hangouts had to go into their Google+ or Gmail accounts every time they wanted to chat. A new, standalone URL allows users to access voice and video chats, IM and SMS from one dedicated page.

Helping the new URL mark its territory is a long-overdue makeover for the Hangouts app. Google’s trademark simplicity has been reinstated, with fewer buttons and a sleeker look. And it looks good. But does it work? Are people responding well to the new interface, or is it another mis-step in the vein of Google+, for which the firm’s high hopes of social media domination failed to materialize?

The answers to those questions depend on who you ask. From this writer’s perspective, its certainly refreshing to be able to jump between SMS and chat, especially when you have contacts who are only available via one or the other. If you’ve started to tune out your Gmail inbox but you still use Hangouts, it’s also good for alerting you to important messages you may have missed. It’s not so good if none of your contacts used Hangouts in the first place - they are unlikely to start doing so just because the things they do use have been bundled in. 

For those who can make use of the switch, here’s a quick guide on how to connect your various messaging tools:

 

• Download Hangouts version 4.0
• Go to ‘settings’ on the left side of the menu
• Make Hangouts the default texting app by setting SMS to ‘disabled’ and selecting Hangouts from the list of apps
• Now enable ‘merged conversations’ to merge SMS and Hangouts conversations into one thread

 

Enabling Google Voice is a simple matter of choosing your Google account instead of SMS under ‘account settings.’ 

How well this will play to the majority of users remains to be seen. Some people love updates and make it their duty to stay abreast of every single change to every single platform. But the majority of people won’t change their digital habits if they’re relatively happy with the status quo. We’ll be watching the development of Hangouts with great interest to see what happens next…