Either if you’re abroad and want to keep in touch with your friends and family, or you have a meeting to attend from home – Google Hangouts provides a perfect environment for online communication. Must read: if you want to know more about Hangouts Chat, read our article about its future features!
How to use Google Hangouts for video calling
This is the primary purpose of the Google Hangouts app, video conferencing. So let’s see what it’s all about!
Step 1
Download the Hangouts app fro Google Play store. On some devices, this app can be preinstalled.
Step 2
Sign in with your Google account.
Step 3
Tap the “+” button in the right bottom of the screen to start a new chat or a voice call.
Step 4
Tap on the person you’d like to chat with (or you can just search them, either by their name, or their email address.) Then tap the video call button at the right top of your screen.
Step 5
Adjust the settings. You can either turn off your microphone (icon on the bottom left), or your camera (bottom right). You can end the call by pressing the red button. And there you go! Now you know how to use Google Hangouts for video calling. There are some other fun things you should know – like how to use Google Hangouts for Screen Sharing, but that is only available for the desktop version. All you have to do is select “More” and click “Screen Sharing”.
Google Hangouts vs Google Duo
In 2016 Google laughed an app called Google Duo that has the same primary use as Google Hangouts – video calling. However, what is the difference between them?
Google Duo is specialized only in video calls, whereas in Hangouts you can also send text messages.Google Duo is only a mobile app, while Google Hangouts can be synchronized across multiple devices using the same Google Account.For Google Duo, you only need a phone number, but for Hangouts, you need a Google Account.While Hangouts can be used for group video calls, Duo is more of a one-to-one video calling app.
Which one is better? Both of them are great and, even though they appear to be similar, they serve different purposes. If you want an app strictly specialized in video calls, by all means, go with Google Duo. But if you want a multi-purpose app, where you can also send text messages and have synchronization on more devices, you should use Google Hangouts. If you want a full review of the Hangouts app, we suggest you read our article Hangouts App Review(Android): Wanna Hang Sometime?
Using Google Hangouts? Never easier!
While being one of the top apps for video calling, we find Google Hangouts pretty easy to use and convenient. International calls, video conferences, text messages and screen sharing – all of those are possible with Hangouts! If you’re looking for other ways to have a video call with someone, be sure to check our list of 3 Simple Ways to Video Chat on Android Phones. Do you have any experience with using Google Hangouts? Let us know it the comments down below! Featured Image
