gmail hangout free download Hangouts for Windows. For a Windows PC, Hangouts is the ultimate extension to instantly message contacts and start a video conference. Additionally, the fun emojis and an easy-to-use interface make Hangouts a great tool. The only drawback is that you can’t make audio calls. But there’s an option to switch off the camera, which serves the purpose without any hassles. Instant messaging and video conferencing made easier! Hangouts is packed with several traditional features of a good messaging service. Once you’ve logged in to a Google account, you can instantly start sending messages, emojis, and images to your contacts in private or group conversations. Using video conferencing, you can add up to 10 people to a video call. It doesn’t really matter what device each one of them is using. Hangouts works across platforms and operating systems. It offers seamless integration for Google Drive and YouTube, while providing you with amazing visual and sound effects. Overall, it’s a fun way to make video calls and chat with contacts. Easy to get started. In order to get started, you need to install the Voice and Video plugin. When you make the first call, a pop-up shows up on the screen and makes the installation easier. It gives you the ability to use video in Hangouts, iGoogle, Gmail, and other social networking platforms owned by Google. While creating a ‘hangout’, you can choose which contacts, groups, or circles you want to invite for the chat. If the total number of people is less than 25, each person receives an invitation. Since each ‘hangout’ you create has a unique web address, invited people can easily join you for a chat or video call. Though ‘hangouts’ are created by single users, every person joining the chat can invite others. At times, this can be annoying, taking away control from the creator. Moreover, you can’t kick anyone out of a session. While Google Hangouts is targeted at individuals, it acts as a good alternative to Skype for hosting larger video chats. Most importantly, while Google doesn’t charge anything for the service, Skype can prove to be expensive in the long run. YouTube integration makes it powerful. YouTube integration has been the most amazing addition to an already seamless communications tool. It allows you to watch videos with others in real-time. However, the videos aren’t synced properly, and some people watching the same videos could face lags and delays. Once you click the YouTube button on the screen, a simple search can help you find any video on the platform. The default settings mute the microphone whenever a video is being played. It makes sure you don’t have to hear unnecessary echoes. When a video is being played, you need to click ‘push to talk’ button to be heard by others. Hangouts lets you upload presentations and videos relevant to the video chat to YouTube. You can also easily share them with other participants. The best part is that you can see all participants even while watching a video. Their images are displayed below the video being played. It saves you the trouble of reshuffling your chat screens every now and then. Hassle-free video chatting and instant messaging. While Skype has been leading the pack, Google Hangouts isn’t far behind. Though you could choose from plenty of communications tools, Hangouts wins the race with ease of use, clean interface, and YouTube integration. It won’t be surprising to see Hangouts overtake Skype as the most popular instant messaging and video conferencing service. The chat feature is very easy-to-use and lets you get in touch with anyone instantly. Unfortunately, chat messages aren’t private, and everything is shared with everyone in the group. Google gives you the ability to turn off chat recordings. You can go ‘off the record’ whenever you don’t want Google to save your chats. One of the most amazing communications tools, Hangouts offers exceptional user experience. Backed by Google, it comes with a wide range of features to enhance and simplify your messaging and video chats. Where can you run this program? Hangouts is available for Android, iOS and Google Chrome. It runs on Windows 7 and higher. For running it on a Windows desktop or laptop, you need to open the browser-based version or add it as an extension to Google Chrome. Is there a better alternative? While Hangouts is a great choice, you might be looking for a few alternatives. Skype, the leading name among communications tools, offers several features. However, you need to download and install the software, which makes cross-device usage tedious. Also, Hangouts works with Gmail, and you don’t need to remember additional passwords or usernames to log in. WhatsApp for Web is another good choice, but comes with limited features for usage on desktop or laptop, such as the lack of video calls. If you’re looking for a different kind of interface, try Discord. With an attractive and clean interface, it doesn’t have any clutter. You can use Discord in a browser too! However, since the platform is closed-source, you can’t reproduce or inspect the source code. In the past, the company has been troubled by some serious privacy issues. Our take. The instant messaging features of Hangouts go beyond the traditional format. They’re easy-to-use, and allow you to seamlessly hold group chats or private conversations. You can make the interaction fun by adding images, emojis, GIFs, and maps. Since Hangouts is available for multiple platforms, syncing your contact list is hassle-free. With integration for YouTube, Google+, and Gmail, Hangouts is one of the most promising tools. Should you download it? Yes, it’s an excellent choice! Hangouts makes conversations more lively with emojis, photos, and video conferencing for free. You can use the platform to connect with friends across devices and operating systems. It lets you ‘hangout’ with contacts, irrespective of the place, time, or other factors. All you need is a good internet connectivity! Hangouts. The official application of Google, Hangouts sets the objective to open instant communication between users. You can type, video chat or even dial friends and family members for free phone calls, depending on where they live. Hangouts replaces the old Google Talk because it integrates better with the Google+ Ecosystem. Since Google Talk, Hangouts added new features to their classic messaging tool. For example, Google added more visual materials, emoticons and photographs to the classic massaging system. Because of these new features, you can express yourself better than ever before, seeing as you have hundreds to choose from. Identical to Google Talk, you can switch text-based conversations over to video conferences. During a video conference, you can hook up with 10 people at a time, which unfortunately, does not stack up to Skype's video conferences where 25 people can connect to instant video chat. You can also have group chats of up to 150 people, but Skype lets you have group chats with 300 people. Hangouts' accessibility looks much better than Google Talk's, and you can hook up to this service from every platform, including smartphone, tablet, laptop and iPad. The software also lets users record their conversations. Let's say you need to save photographs from someone who shared pictures with you. You can add the pictures to a personalized folder. The downside of the latest software, however, is how it does not let users switch to "invisible mode." Once you connect, you can't hide it. The calling rates of Google Hangouts are also very reasonable to many of the countries where you want to dial friends and family. How to Use Google Hangouts. wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 24 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 646,426 times. From meetings to movie nights, Google Hangouts allows users across the world to video chat, collaborate, and share with ease. There are a lot of features packed into the Hangouts application, so follow this guide to start getting the most out of your Hangouts. Hangouts. Google Talk for Chrome, better known as Google Talk, is a type of VoIP software offered by Google to transform your Chrome browser into a chat system that lets you make phone calls. Many people like using VoIP software because it lets them stay in touch with their loved ones without using their cell phones. If you have a pay as you go phone, you may find that you run through your minutes too quickly or that your plan doesn't cover calls to international locations. With Google Talk, you now have the chance to make all the calls you want to make without using a cell phone or a land line. All you need is a microphone that works with your computer and this handy app. This free app is so easy to use that you'll wonder why you ever bothered picking up a phone in the past. It lets you save your contacts according to their numbers and upload contacts from your Gmail account or other online accounts. You can also organize those contacts to quickly find who you want to call later. Though you can use this with some cell phones, it only works with those running a newer Android operating system. It also does not work with computers and devices running Linux or Apple products. Released in 2007, Google Talk has an older and slightly outdated look. If you used Skype recently, you'll find that this app looks more like a messaging system than a phone app. It's also worth noting that Google released Hangouts, which is a new app that provides the same services and comes with some new features. While you can still download and use Google Talk over your computer, Google no longer offers any support for the product. There are better and more modern alternatives that let you make phone calls online. As Google Talk is so basic and easy to use, it's still a good option for older users and those who have older computers. You'll need to sign into your Gmail account and link that account to Google Talk. It will then locate your contacts and let you make phone calls. Those you talk to online must have Gmail accounts of their own too. The more contacts you have in your email account, the more ways you can use Google Talk. Hangouts 4+ Use Hangouts to keep in touch. Message friends, start free video or voice calls, and hop on a conversation with one person or a group. Say more with photos, stickers, and emoji. • Include all your friends with group chats for up to 150 people. • Say more with status messages, photos, emoji, stickers, and animated GIFs. • Turn any conversation into a free group video call with up to 10 friends. • Keep in touch with friends across all your devices. • Message friends anytime, even if they're offline. • Manage mobile app remotely with Google Cloud. What’s New. Ratings and Reviews. Hangouts. Hangouts is cool and you can add a lot of people to chat with! But there is a just a teeny little problem, we can call each other but still chat in the call not go into the hangouts app just staying at the call and not leaving to go chat in the normal place. You have to go try on the computer to do it and sometimes you can't hear your friends voice sometimes. But I love it still no matter how good or bad it is! And you can log into any account but at the beginning you have to use gmail. But my friends at school have been sending invites in my school account and i didn't know i could make another account and that i didn't know my school email would work! That's why hangouts is still good and it will always be forever! At least it is bad and PLEASE DON'T GET RID OF THIS. I say that because i don't have every friend i can talk to on messages and that's why i also use hangouts so i can talk with other friends! So if you do get rid of this i am going to help raise this level. (i love is so l'm still giving it a 5 star rating because even with teeny problems, you have to ignore then to help go do the right thing and don't do the bad !) Google has ruined Hangouts. Before the most recent update, there were occasional bugs. Enough to make me give them a four star. From various things such as when you join a call, it would act as if you were receiving a call for over five seconds and you couldn’t hear nor talk. Other bugs included some inducing whence sending photos and videos, as well as the extremely poor quality in all videos (though this is not a bug, just the way that the app is.) What has further lowered my rating on Hangouts is their most recent update. The update now requires you to set a google meet in order to call or FaceTime. This is most infuriating in group chats, because it sends a message with a link, but most people do not suspect a call unless they actually hear a REAL CALL. Google meet (just use it and you’ll see) is not at all practical for casual conversation, nor official meetings, and is still very clunky and even MORE BUGGY. Much of this you have to use to understand. I’m still going to use the app. I have to. Hangouts is strong in the area of connecting more people than ever, because all you need is a Gmail or some school emails (though school emails are a bit limited, they can’t send photos or videos, but that is understandable.) I’m just disappointed that Google is valuing Google meet over the people. I hope this review was helpful, and congrats for reaching the end! Hangouts - College Buds from all parts of the Country- still best friends. So. I graduated college in 2009 from University of Oklahoma. I had a group of 8 guys that were best of friends. We all moved to various parts of the country afterwards for jobs, girls, etc. We were out of touch for a few years - except for the occasional Fantasy Football trash talking during 4 months/yr. We joined Hangouts in 2012 and have been chatting on this daily (yes. daily) since then. Marriages, kids & all of life’s struggles & achievements have been chronicled since. There may only be a few short chats a day or entire pages & pages of back & forth. Google Hangouts has been the one place that has kept us guys connected and best of friends since college. Also, probably the reason we could never run for office one day if we wanted. lol. but that’s neither here nor there. Highly recommend this chatting app and hope it never goes away. Lastly, one of the only apps I know that offers Video Chat for up to 10 people at once. We’ve played fantasy football bets & drinking games on more than a few occasions with all 8 of us on the video chat. Super Cool. App Privacy. The developer, Google LLC , indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.