Hangouts 13.0 for Android Released With Chrome Custom Tabs Support
Google has recurrently reiterated that Hangouts will remain as an enterprise-focused messaging solution after Duo’s and Allo release. Now Version 13 is rolling out to Android with support for Chrome Custom Tabs and other minor tweaks.
Google wants us to know that even though it has released text-messaging app Allo and video-calling app Duo, it has not forgotten Hangouts. This is why the search giant has out version 13.0 update for Hangouts, which gets support for Chrome Custom Tabs to the app on Android.
On the updated version of the app, we will find the option 'Browse in Hangouts' in the settings and by default, it comes enabled. We also get the option to open the page in Chrome.
The “Browse in Hangouts” toggle can be found in Settings and is enabled by default. To match the rest of Hangouts, the Custom Tab’s status and app bar is properly colored green. An overflow menu allows users to open the page in Chrome and a Share button opens up the system share sheet. The browser chrome suitable hides when users scroll down a page.
Now there is also a warning at the top of Settings that reminds users merged conversations are no longer presented. The option was deleted in version 11 and use to let SMS and Hangouts chats in one convenient thread.
"Merged conversations used to let you see your Hangouts messages and text messages in the same conversation. We have decided to remove it because it caused user confusion and had low usage," Google said regarding the removal of merged conversations.
Essentially, Chrome Custom Tabs, are a method for apps like Reddit, news apps and now Hangouts, to open a URL within its specific app, but also control Chrome. In the new version of Hangouts, which may or may not have hit our device yet, users can head on over to the Settings to enable “Browse with Hangouts”, that means that links we click on will now open within Hangouts, but they will use the Chrome rendering engine. This is a lot more safe, as Chrome is updated much more often, and it also supports different colors to mix in with the content we’ve clicked on.
Google has explained that it wants Hangouts to be focused on businesses and simpler apps Allo and Duo to be consumer-centric.
The search giant just declared that Hangouts On Air will move from Google+ to YouTube Live. In its note, the company said, "Events cannot be scheduled on Google+ after September 12 and you will need to move existing events scheduled to happen after September 12 to YouTube Live."