Google Hangouts Meet and Talk: Everything You Need to Know
Everything You Need to Know About Google Hangouts Meet and Talk
There might be only one real criteria for the best talk app for your team: How effortless it is for everyone to use. With dozens of superb movie and text talk apps for teams–each of which include fairly similar features–the determining factor is often down to the way your team works.
Google Hangouts quickly became that default, easiest-to-use talk option for many teams thanks to it running in your browser and being deeply integrated in Google’s other apps. Create a fresh Google Calendar event, and you’ll get a Hangouts movie talk link included automatically—and can pick up your talk conversations right inwards Gmail.
This year, Google is doubling down on its success with Hangouts, splitting it into two apps for businesses: Meet and Talk. Here’s how to embark using Google’s fresh Hangouts Meet movie calls today—and which of Google’s half-dozen talk apps you should be using.
Google Hangouts Meet: It’s Hangouts, Redesigned
The best thing to come out of Google’s social network experiment was Hangouts. It’s a solid, free movie talk app that’s built into Gmail and Google Calendar, making it the simplest way to leap on a call with colleagues. Its text talk is basic, much like the older IM-style Google Talk app, but Hangouts’ high-quality movies with twenty five participants more than made up for that.
Recently, Google split text talk off into a brand fresh app that has more in common with Slack than IM, along with a redesigned version of of their movie talk.
Very first up is a refresh of Google Hangouts’ movie talk, this time rebranded as Google Hangouts Meet or just Meet. It’s much the same as Hangouts—in fact, it emerges to be using the very same backend service, just on a different domain and with a refreshed UI. Meet is designed around scheduled calls. You’ll book appointments very first in Google Calendar, then open meet.google.com and leap on the call when it’s time.
For the most part, Meet is the same as Hangouts’ movie calls—only with a fresh fresh design focused just on movie talk. There’s no text chat—that’s saved for the companion Hangouts Talk app. Instead, you’ll get full-screen movie with up to twenty five participants for G Suite Basic and Business plans and thirty participants for G Suite Enterprise customers. And you can begin using it today.
How to Use Google Hangouts Meet Today
If you have a paid G Suite account, you can embark using the fresh Google Hangouts Meet app for your team calls today. You can’t commence a call directly from Meet yet—but you can schedule a movie call in Google Calendar, and join it from Meet. Here’s how.
Very first, make a fresh appointment in Google Calendar. Invite any participants, schedule it for the time you want, and then tap the Add movie call link under the movie location. That’ll add a Google Hangouts link to your event—and also add it to the fresh Meet app.
Now, when it’s time for your call, go to meet.google.com in Google Chrome—that’s the only supported browser right now. You’ll see a list of your upcoming meetings as in the top screenshot on this article. Tap the correct meeting, then join the movie call much as you would for a standard Hangouts movie.
Joy Fact: For now, Google Calendar includes a standard Hangouts link that’ll open at hangouts.google.com with the old interface. If your colleagues click that link, they’ll join the call using the old Hangouts—and they’ll join in your Meet call just the same. They’re each just different interfaces for the same movie call service.
Unlike Google Hangouts’ often dark interface, Meet puts its contraptions in a bright white toolbar. You can turn off your camera, mute your mic, or share your screen—and you can see each call participant on the right side of your screen. Much like Hangouts, the movie of the person who’s presently talking will be shown in the main part of your window.
If you want to share your screen, Meet will let you share your total desktop or choose one app to share. Its window selector reminds us of Zoom—and it’s actually part of the webpage, even tho’ it looks like a separate window.
Google Meet worked well in our tests—much the same as traditional Hangouts. Its only problem is is the same: It drains your battery and kicks in your laptop’s fans on longer calls.
If your movie’s running slow, you can switch from the default 720p stream to 360p movie. Or you can switch to the traditional Hangouts interface if you’d like—just tap the menu button on the right, and select Hangouts to switch apps without quitting the call.
And that’s it. Meet’s a simplified version of traditional Hangouts movie talk, still one of the best ways to leap on a call with your team. It’s Chrome-only for now—but you can still use Hangouts’ mobile apps to join Meet calls.
Google Hangouts Talk: Team Talk, Google Style
Then, sometime soon, Meet will build up a text talk sidekick: Google Hangouts Talk. It’s a brand-new team talk app from Google, one that’s most similar to apps like Slack and HipChat than anything Google has released so far.
A Zapier + Google Hangouts Talk integration is in the works. Vote for the integration and get notified when it’s available.
Hangouts Talk is focused on ongoing conversations inbetween teams in your company. You’ll make groups to keep talks focused and can reply directly to any message to turn it into a sub-conversation. Or you can message individuals for one-to-one talks inwards your company. It’s also deeply integrated with the rest of G Suite, so you can share documents and manage appointments right from talk.
Perhaps most arousing is Google Hangouts Talk’s built-in integrations and bots. It comes with a built in @meet bot which, similar to Google Assistant in Allo talks, will help you find appointments and other info from your Google account. Then, with integrations from apps like QuickBooks, Box, and Zapier, you can send notifications about fresh data into your team talk and build your own bots without coding.
It’s coming later this year, with web and mobile apps, and will be Google’s thickest shove into team communications in years.
Learn more about Google Hangouts Talk from the Google Blog, or apply for Google’s Early Adopter Program for early access to Hangouts Talk
Which Google Talk App Should I Use?
Over Google’s history, the company has launched over a dozen voice and text talk apps. Google Talk and Wave are long gone, but with the fresh Meet and Talk apps, the search giant still supports a half-dozen talk apps. It’s not certain which apps will still be around years from now—but it feels like Hangouts’ days as a consumer app are numbered.
Which of Google’s talk apps should you use? Here’s a quick guide to what each app offers:
Google Allo
for talking with your friends
Allo combines a duo of Google’s current concentrates. It’s a joy talk app designed to take on Facebook’s Messenger and Apple’s iMessage, with stickers, suggested replies, and built-in drawing contraptions. You can talk individually with friends–as long as they’re using the Allo app as well–or can create a group with up to two hundred fifty people.
The largest reason to attempt it out today, tho’, is for Google Assistant. A chatbot powered by a similar AI to the one in the Google Now voice assistant, Google Assistant can find travel details from your email, lookup plane ticket info, and tell you a joke. It’s a Siri you don’t have to talk to.
It wouldn’t be too surprising if Allo eventually shows up inwards non-work Gmail accounts. For now, however, you’ll need to use Allo’s mobile apps to talk.
Google Duo
for quick one-to-one movie calls
Ever wished FaceTime worked on Android phones too? Or want Hangouts movie talk without all the extra features? Google Duo is the movie talk app you’ve desired.
Duo’s one of the easiest to use movie call apps. Just open the app, tap a contact, and talk to them in full-screen movie seconds later. It’s the movie call counterpart to Allo, and just might substitute the consumer-focused version of Hangouts movie calls.
Android Messages
for sending SMS and MMS messages on Android
Want to send SMS and MMS messages on your Android device? This is the app it seems Google wants you to use, at least according to a notification the Hangouts app displayed last year.
Messages is plain, with an Allo-style interface for sending traditional messages from your phone. It works without an internet connection, and that’s its strongest feature.
Find out more and download from the Google Play store
Google Hangouts
for text, movie, and phone calls all in one app
Google Hangouts is the talk app for everything—for now, at least. It’s the talk app that’s built into Gmail, and on Android combines SMS and online talk much like Apple’s Messages app. You can talk with anyone else with a Google account—paid or free. You can also video-call up to twenty five people at once, finish with effects like adding a fake hat to your head or playing a sound effect to prank friends. Want to reach a broader audience? Hangouts is what powers YouTube Live, for live broadcasts streamed from your talk app.
Hangouts works everywhere: On mobile and on most desktop browsers. It’s a click away in Gmail, and whenever you make a fresh Google Calendar appointment, you’ll get a Hangouts link as well to lightly hop on a call.
For G Suite business accounts, Hangouts is forking into the aforementioned Meet and Talk apps, the former for movie calls and the latter for text talks. It’s already one of the easiest ways for most teams to leap on a movie call, and it’s arousing to see how Hangouts Talk will get integrated into the rest of Google’s apps.
For consumers, however, it’s yet to be seen if Hangouts will live on—or be substituted with Allo and Duo.
Related Reading
- Want a different, non-Google team talk app? Here are the twelve best movie conferencing apps—each one attempted and tested by our team.
- Need a text talk app to go along with that? Check out our guide to the best team talk apps.
- Want to make your team work together even better in G Suite? Download a free copy of Zapier’s Ultimate Guide to G Suite to learn how to set up, customize, and collaborate in a G Suite account for your company.
“If we didn’t get these ongoing notifications through Zapier, we’d miss significant information on how patient funding is going. It’s saved us so much time.”
Google Hangouts Meet and Talk: Everything You Need to Know
Everything You Need to Know About Google Hangouts Meet and Talk
There might be only one real criteria for the best talk app for your team: How effortless it is for everyone to use. With dozens of fine movie and text talk apps for teams–each of which include fairly similar features–the determining factor is often down to the way your team works.
Google Hangouts quickly became that default, easiest-to-use talk option for many teams thanks to it running in your browser and being deeply integrated in Google’s other apps. Create a fresh Google Calendar event, and you’ll get a Hangouts movie talk link included automatically—and can pick up your talk conversations right inwards Gmail.
This year, Google is doubling down on its success with Hangouts, splitting it into two apps for businesses: Meet and Talk. Here’s how to commence using Google’s fresh Hangouts Meet movie calls today—and which of Google’s half-dozen talk apps you should be using.
Google Hangouts Meet: It’s Hangouts, Redesigned
The best thing to come out of Google’s social network experiment was Hangouts. It’s a solid, free movie talk app that’s built into Gmail and Google Calendar, making it the simplest way to hop on a call with colleagues. Its text talk is basic, much like the older IM-style Google Talk app, but Hangouts’ high-quality movies with twenty five participants more than made up for that.
Recently, Google split text talk off into a brand fresh app that has more in common with Slack than IM, along with a redesigned version of of their movie talk.
Very first up is a refresh of Google Hangouts’ movie talk, this time rebranded as Google Hangouts Meet or just Meet. It’s much the same as Hangouts—in fact, it emerges to be using the very same backend service, just on a different domain and with a refreshed UI. Meet is designed around scheduled calls. You’ll book appointments very first in Google Calendar, then open meet.google.com and leap on the call when it’s time.
For the most part, Meet is the same as Hangouts’ movie calls—only with a fresh fresh design focused just on movie talk. There’s no text chat—that’s saved for the companion Hangouts Talk app. Instead, you’ll get full-screen movie with up to twenty five participants for G Suite Basic and Business plans and thirty participants for G Suite Enterprise customers. And you can begin using it today.
How to Use Google Hangouts Meet Today
If you have a paid G Suite account, you can embark using the fresh Google Hangouts Meet app for your team calls today. You can’t embark a call directly from Meet yet—but you can schedule a movie call in Google Calendar, and join it from Meet. Here’s how.
Very first, make a fresh appointment in Google Calendar. Invite any participants, schedule it for the time you want, and then tap the Add movie call link under the movie location. That’ll add a Google Hangouts link to your event—and also add it to the fresh Meet app.
Now, when it’s time for your call, go to meet.google.com in Google Chrome—that’s the only supported browser right now. You’ll see a list of your upcoming meetings as in the top screenshot on this article. Tap the correct meeting, then join the movie call much as you would for a standard Hangouts movie.
Joy Fact: For now, Google Calendar includes a standard Hangouts link that’ll open at hangouts.google.com with the old interface. If your colleagues click that link, they’ll join the call using the old Hangouts—and they’ll join in your Meet call just the same. They’re each just different interfaces for the same movie call service.
Unlike Google Hangouts’ often dark interface, Meet puts its devices in a bright white toolbar. You can turn off your camera, mute your mic, or share your screen—and you can see each call participant on the right side of your screen. Much like Hangouts, the movie of the person who’s presently talking will be shown in the main part of your window.
If you want to share your screen, Meet will let you share your total desktop or choose one app to share. Its window selector reminds us of Zoom—and it’s actually part of the webpage, even however it looks like a separate window.
Google Meet worked well in our tests—much the same as traditional Hangouts. Its only problem is is the same: It drains your battery and kicks in your laptop’s fans on longer calls.
If your movie’s running slow, you can switch from the default 720p stream to 360p movie. Or you can switch to the traditional Hangouts interface if you’d like—just tap the menu button on the right, and select Hangouts to switch apps without quitting the call.
And that’s it. Meet’s a simplified version of traditional Hangouts movie talk, still one of the best ways to leap on a call with your team. It’s Chrome-only for now—but you can still use Hangouts’ mobile apps to join Meet calls.
Google Hangouts Talk: Team Talk, Google Style
Then, sometime soon, Meet will build up a text talk sidekick: Google Hangouts Talk. It’s a brand-new team talk app from Google, one that’s most similar to apps like Slack and HipChat than anything Google has released so far.
A Zapier + Google Hangouts Talk integration is in the works. Vote for the integration and get notified when it’s available.
Hangouts Talk is focused on ongoing conversations inbetween teams in your company. You’ll make groups to keep talks focused and can reply directly to any message to turn it into a sub-conversation. Or you can message individuals for one-to-one talks inwards your company. It’s also deeply integrated with the rest of G Suite, so you can share documents and manage appointments right from talk.
Perhaps most arousing is Google Hangouts Talk’s built-in integrations and bots. It comes with a built in @meet bot which, similar to Google Assistant in Allo talks, will help you find appointments and other info from your Google account. Then, with integrations from apps like QuickBooks, Box, and Zapier, you can send notifications about fresh data into your team talk and build your own bots without coding.
It’s coming later this year, with web and mobile apps, and will be Google’s fattest thrust into team communications in years.
Learn more about Google Hangouts Talk from the Google Blog, or apply for Google’s Early Adopter Program for early access to Hangouts Talk
Which Google Talk App Should I Use?
Over Google’s history, the company has launched over a dozen voice and text talk apps. Google Talk and Wave are long gone, but with the fresh Meet and Talk apps, the search giant still supports a half-dozen talk apps. It’s not certain which apps will still be around years from now—but it feels like Hangouts’ days as a consumer app are numbered.
Which of Google’s talk apps should you use? Here’s a quick guide to what each app offers:
Google Allo
for talking with your friends
Allo combines a duo of Google’s current concentrates. It’s a joy talk app designed to take on Facebook’s Messenger and Apple’s iMessage, with stickers, suggested replies, and built-in drawing implements. You can talk individually with friends–as long as they’re using the Allo app as well–or can create a group with up to two hundred fifty people.
The thickest reason to attempt it out today, however, is for Google Assistant. A chatbot powered by a similar AI to the one in the Google Now voice assistant, Google Assistant can find travel details from your email, lookup plane ticket info, and tell you a joke. It’s a Siri you don’t have to talk to.
It wouldn’t be too surprising if Allo eventually shows up inwards non-work Gmail accounts. For now, tho’, you’ll need to use Allo’s mobile apps to talk.
Google Duo
for quick one-to-one movie calls
Ever wished FaceTime worked on Android phones too? Or want Hangouts movie talk without all the extra features? Google Duo is the movie talk app you’ve wished.
Duo’s one of the easiest to use movie call apps. Just open the app, tap a contact, and talk to them in full-screen movie seconds later. It’s the movie call counterpart to Allo, and just might substitute the consumer-focused version of Hangouts movie calls.
Android Messages
for sending SMS and MMS messages on Android
Want to send SMS and MMS messages on your Android device? This is the app it seems Google wants you to use, at least according to a notification the Hangouts app displayed last year.
Messages is elementary, with an Allo-style interface for sending traditional messages from your phone. It works without an internet connection, and that’s its strongest feature.
Find out more and download from the Google Play store
Google Hangouts
for text, movie, and phone calls all in one app
Google Hangouts is the talk app for everything—for now, at least. It’s the talk app that’s built into Gmail, and on Android combines SMS and online talk much like Apple’s Messages app. You can talk with anyone else with a Google account—paid or free. You can also video-call up to twenty five people at once, accomplish with effects like adding a fake hat to your head or playing a sound effect to prank friends. Want to reach a broader audience? Hangouts is what powers YouTube Live, for live broadcasts streamed from your talk app.
Hangouts works everywhere: On mobile and on most desktop browsers. It’s a click away in Gmail, and whenever you make a fresh Google Calendar appointment, you’ll get a Hangouts link as well to lightly leap on a call.
For G Suite business accounts, Hangouts is forking into the aforementioned Meet and Talk apps, the former for movie calls and the latter for text talks. It’s already one of the easiest ways for most teams to hop on a movie call, and it’s arousing to see how Hangouts Talk will get integrated into the rest of Google’s apps.
For consumers, tho’, it’s yet to be seen if Hangouts will live on—or be substituted with Allo and Duo.
Related Reading
- Want a different, non-Google team talk app? Here are the twelve best movie conferencing apps—each one attempted and tested by our team.
- Need a text talk app to go along with that? Check out our guide to the best team talk apps.
- Want to make your team work together even better in G Suite? Download a free copy of Zapier’s Ultimate Guide to G Suite to learn how to set up, customize, and collaborate in a G Suite account for your company.
“Zapier helps me build processes and automation into my business like a programmer without having to learn to code.”
Lawrence Watkins, co-founder of Fine Black Speakers