Google Releases New Hangouts Web Application

Google has introduced a new web application for its Hangouts cross-device messaging app, almost two years after the app first launched on android and GMail. It strives to be the new central location for Hangouts on the web. As of today, the messaging and video chat service is no longer buried in the realms of Google+ and Gmail.

The new website presents the user with all Google contacts, and options for getting in touch with them. It displays Hangouts' three key features — instant messaging, voice calls, and video chats — front and center, with big buttons to start up each of them. Video and phone calls are free, and can be easily initiated through the interface. Also, a new message thread just like its smartphone counterpart is introduced. The website is live at a convenient URL offered by: hangouts.google.com.

This week’s launch of the new hangouts web app comes a few months after Facebook introduced a web version of its Messenger app that was broken directly out of Facebook.

It's definitely going to be a much easier way to use the service for people who aren't always inside of Gmail.

Hangouts has been getting a lot of attention from Google over the past couple of months. The Hangouts app has been overhauled on both iOS and Android, bringing it up to date with Google's design style, and making the service easier to use.

This is perhaps an obvious service for Google to put some work into in recent times, considering facebook’s entry into the private messaging arena providing a way for businesses to privately message its followers. There's already a huge base of people with Google accounts who are able to use Hangouts; by giving the app a modern design and a broken out web service — much like Facebook has done with Messenger. 

The app was originally conceived as a part of the Google+ social network. However, Google has been gradually breaking up the Plus social network in the past few months, beginning with the stand-alone Google Photos app. Now that Hangouts has broken out of Gmail and onto the web, it has its own unique web presence just as any other web application developed by companies.