Google just announced a new unified messaging service today that will be available across multiple platforms and now the iOS app is officially available to download on the App Store.
The free Hangouts app is available as a universal download for both iPhone and iPad and offers group conversations with photos or 850 emojis, Video calls for hanging out with up to 10 friends, alerts that are synced across devices and more.
More Hangouts awesomeness: — View and continue your Hangouts across devices. — Get notifications just once. After you see an alert, it’ll be removed on other devices. — Snooze your notifications if you’d prefer to respond later. — See what you talked about in the past, including shared photos and your video call history. — Keep a record of any Hangout for just a short period of time by turning history off. — View collections of photos shared from each of your Hangouts. — Choose from over 850 emoji to express what’s on your mind.
The Hangouts feature will also be coming to Gmail users today:
What does this mean for your Gmail? You now have the option to switch from the current version of chat to Hangouts. Simply click “Try it out” next to your chat list to switch to Hangouts and give your chat an instant facelift (literally!). You’ll now see the profile photos in the order of your most recent conversations. With Hangouts, you’ll also be able to quickly send messages, have video calls with up to ten people at once, and share photos. You can start a conversation with just one friend or even a whole group.
