Hangouts | AppleVis

Submitted by Snorlax, 16 May, 2013

Last updated on 15 June, 2020

Description of App

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.
• Call any phone number in the world (and all calls to other Hangouts users are free!).
• Connect your Google Voice account for phone number, SMS, and voicemail integration.
• Keep in touch with friends across all your devices.
• Message friends anytime, even if they're offline.
• Manage mobile app remotely with Google Cloud.

Note: Mobile carrier and ISP charges may apply. Calls to Hangouts users are free, but other calls might be charged.

Free or Paid

Free

Apple Watch Support

Version

34.0.0

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

13.5.1

Accessibility Comments

This is very accessible and easy to use. The audio quality of the Hangouts are really good compare with Skype. Worth checking out and giving this a spin.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads all page elements.

Button Labeling

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

The app is fully accessible with VoiceOver and is easy to navigate and use.

App Store Link

https://itunes.apple.com/app/id643496868?mt=8

Developer's Website

https://support.google.com/plus/topic/1248784?p=plus_home&src=itunes&rd=1

Developer's Twitter Username

@GoogleHangout

Recommendations

5 people have recommended this app

Most recently recommended by kevinchao89 3 years 2 months ago

Options

Comments

app crashes

Hello, I can confirm the app crashing when trying to search for people, however, I was able to enter my phone number, and all of the info asked. I did skip the profile picture step though, since I think I already have a profile picture.

Similar to Whatsapp?????

Apart from voice conferencing and the ability to access from the desktop, is this much different from Whatsapp?

I stand corrected

My appologies, I have just completed a podcast on this app and it is possible to enter the telephone number during the account login process. Couple of things to note though. First you must select the country by clicking on US, wich is the default and then selecting your country from the list. I found that I had to click on US a few times before it worked for me or perhaps I was just being too impationt. Another thing to note is that do not enter the leading 0 when entering the tel no. for some strange reason it automatically does this. I'm afraid I can't bring you good news on the crashes, it still falls over in the same place. Do go and listen to the podcast when it is available.

Google is a Joke

Hey all, I hate to break it to you, but Google doesn't care about accessibility. How long have we been trying to get Google to improve the accessibility to every one of there products? And yet still with every new product there are serious accessibility issues. Google just doesn't care. I am so blown away every time people are surprised at the poor accessibility of a Google product. Do people seriously think Google's self driving car is going to be a reality for blind people when Google can't even get there email or Google docs to work properly with screen readers? Google Plus is a nightmare, and unless the company decides to make a serious commitment to accessibility why even bother with their products any more. Google is even worse than Facebook at least Facebook hired an accessibility team six months ago. I wish I was wrong, but having hit a frustration level with Google I have just given up on them.

Version 1.1.2

Google has made some improvements in this latest version. However, it still has a long way to go to make this anywhere close in making this accessible.

You can now see your Google Group friends and such. By some hit and miss approach I was able to start a Video call but it left me with a page that was with a lot of unlabel buttons.

So hopefully they will continue to bang away at it and made this even more accessible to where I would find it truely accessible. The concept is great and I would love to try this out in a group environment. For now we must wait until that day comes.

What's New in Version 1.1.2

You can now join Hangouts On Air
Bug fixes and performance improvements

Version 1.3.0

One would think after 5 months and 3 minor releases. From 1.0 to 1.1 to 1.2 and now to 1.3 that we would see some improvements with VoiceOver. Sadly, it is still riddle with unlabel buttons and hit and miss to get this to work with VO. Even with a Accessibility Team at Google aware of the issues. We have yet to see any improvements or any kind of headway. One can only hope that someday they will make this more accessible.

What's New in Version 1.3.0

- See which of your friends is using Hangouts, and who can be reached right now
- Call phone numbers from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch (free to the US and Canada)
- Make and receive calls using your Google Voice number
- Send and receive animated GIFs that play inline
- Hangouts will temporarily turn down your music (instead of stopping it) when you receive an incoming message

Version 2.0.0

This was a very disappointing release by Google. It is now completly inaccessible. You are unable to hear any elements at all. Even with sighted help. None of the pages can be read at all.

What's New in Version 2.0.0 --
Fully-optimized for the iPad, including picture-in-picture video calling
-- Animated stickers that help you share exactly how you’re feeling
-- Record and send video messages up to 10 seconds long
-- Send a map of your current location

Version 2.1.0

You wouldn't think that much of anything was fixed in this recent update. However, that is not the case. This update is very substantial for the VoiceOver community. From what I have seen so far. This appear to be very accessible. That is a total 180 from the versions before. I am still exploring everything in this update. I am able to start a Hangout and send SMS to my friends. I am still trying to figure out how to make a call. So if any of you have found help. Please feel free to leave your comments below. Plus, of any inaccessible issues that you have found.

What's New in Version 2.1.0

- Bug fixes and performance improvements

hangouts crashing

Does anyone experience hangouts crashing on iOS8?

This is a known bug that's

This is a known bug that's been around since the beta stage of iOS. I reported this to apple but if there is a way to report this to hang outs then yeah that would be good

incidentally, this crashes with out voice over, so we are not the only ones this time experiencing the problem.

Re: hangouts crashing

Yes, it crashes immediately upon opening the app. I have experienced this with iOS 8 and iOS 8.0.2 on an iPhone 6 and iPhone 5s.

Try it with out voice over. I

Try it with out voice over. I can assure you it will crash as well. Iv'e verified this wiht sighted assistence.

Version 2.3.0

What's New in Version 2.3.0

Support for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus

Version 6.1.0

Reply directly from notifications.
Groupnames in notifications.
Contact names included in Google Voice Notifications.
Accessibility bug fixes.

Version 7.0.0

What's New in Version 7.0.0

• Hide message content in notifications.
• Accessibility improvements.
• Fixed intermittent delay in video startup.
• Contact names included in Google Voice notifications (Sync contacts setting must be on).

A few questions

I just started using this app and wanted to know if there's a way to edit your display name. I have an aversion to my last name being shown, but there doesn't seem to be a way to change this. Also, I wanted to change the order messages are displayed in from most recent first to most recent last. Is this possible? Lastly, is there a way once you sync your contacts to see who already has Hangouts, so you can add them without inadvertently pestering those who don't have or want the service?
Any help is much appreciated.

Very Good on My End

Hello. My brother sent me a link to this app in the app store a few days ago, and it is now residing happily on my iPhone. I've done some things with it, and I am happy to report that all or most accessibility issues seem to have been resolved. At least this is what I found thus far. In addition, I called myself on both my iPhone and land-line phone and the audio quality seems to be very good. Interestingly enough though, my land-line phone's talking caller ID did not sound but my iPhone's did. I might be using this app for a new job as well as for pleasure. So it's a good thing that Google has made improvements.