How do you see if you use Hangouts

Recently, you have been using Hangouts, the instant messaging and video calling service developed by Google, quite frequently. You are very comfortable with this communication system, however you have some doubts about its functioning, with particular reference to how you interact with other users.

What is still not entirely clear to you, in essence, is how you see if you use Hangouts: you would like to understand, in particular, if there is a way to determine if the person you want to communicate with already uses the platform in question. , but also if she is connected and available to receive messages.

I fully understand your perplexities and, for this reason, I decided to deepen the subject with this tutorial: you just need to dedicate a few minutes of your precious time to reading the next paragraphs and you will see that, in the end, you will be perfectly able to recognize independently if the person you are interacting with has a Hangouts account and is online. Ready to get started? Perfect. Find everything explained below.

Index

• Preliminary information
• As you can see if you use Hangouts on a PC
  • Hangouts site
  • Gmail
  • Chrome extension
• As you can see if you use Hangouts from smartphones and tablets

Preliminary information

Before proceeding to the explanation on how to check if a user is using Hangouts, it is appropriate to make some important clarifications.

Google has in fact announced that the service in question will be phased out gradually over the course of 2021, simultaneously inviting its users to use the new Google Meet and Google Chat applications: you have probably already noticed the presence of a blue banner on the main screen of the service, both on PC and mobile device, which warns of the migration in progress.

If, in consideration of the above, you consider it appropriate to start informing you about the alternatives mentioned above, I want to immediately let you know that I have made several tutorials focused in particular on the Google video conferencing service: you can always rely on me, therefore, for example, if you want to learn more about how Google Meet works, if you simply want to know how to download the program or apps, or how to register on the platform and so on.

As for Google Chat, it is a communication system very similar to Hangouts, focused more on instant messaging, but which also allows you to make video calls. In this regard, you will be pleased to know that all conversations made on Hangouts will be migrated to the aforementioned platform: you have nothing to fear, therefore, regarding the preservation of your chats.

But now, as promised, the time has come to address the central theme of this guide. I must warn you, however, that by virtue of the decommissioning of the service, some of the features I am about to export may no longer be available or may not be fully functional at any moment.

As you can see if you use Hangouts on a PC

After the appropriate premises made in the previous chapter relating to the migration of the service in question, to begin with I will show you how you can see if you use Hangouts from your PC: this is the simplest condition to verify, as the features present in the computer versions of this service make the task particularly smooth.

Furthermore, if you use the PC, you can refer to three ways of using Hangouts: through the dedicated site, from your Gmail mailbox or, if you use the Chrome browser, also through the extension developed specifically by Google.

Hangouts site

If you use the Hangouts site and, therefore, have already authenticated to your Google account by clicking on the Login button located at the top right of the main screen, as you will see shortly it is not absolutely difficult to understand if another account is already using the platform in question and whether it is also online and available for conversation.

First of all, you need to determine if the person you want to contact is already on your list of connections: to do this, click on the symbol of the two people side by side, located at the top left, in order to load the list of people with whom you have already established a conversation in the past.

If the user is connected and available, there is a green dot at the bottom right of his profile picture: clicking on his name, therefore, opens the chat window through which you can start texting (or start the video call) , having the certainty that the latter receives them in real time.

If it is a user that you have never contacted before, in this case it is necessary to click on the item New conversation, present at the top of the contact list panel seen above and type his email address, name, or number of telephone in the appropriate search field that is proposed.

The result is shown below: if it is a Google account, its availability at this point depends on the settings chosen during the profiling phase. It is possible, for example, that the user accepts connections from anyone who knows his number or his email and that, therefore, the green dot is immediately present as seen in the previous paragraphs.

If, on the other hand, you have preferred to customize the methods in which to be contacted, in the latter circumstance it may be necessary to send an invitation in advance in order to start the conversation by pressing the appropriate Invite item, located to the right of the result, possibly typing a message of submitting and confirming the request by pressing the Send Invitation button.

If the system does not provide this possibility, it is possible that the user has inhibited this functionality in their settings, by selecting the appropriate option that prevents sending invitations to those who do not know the telephone number or email.

Gmail

Hangouts, as you may already know, has been integrated into Google’s Webmail for some time: it is therefore possible to use the service also by accessing the Gmail mailbox.

The related chat and video call functions and the contact list are grouped together in a special box located in the left panel, at the bottom. The immediate availability of a contact, also in this case, can be deduced from the presence of the green dot at the bottom right of the profile image.

If you want to interact with a user not in the contact list, instead, press the [+] button located to the right of your profile name, in order to start a new conversation.

In the panel that opens on the right, type the email address, name or telephone number of the person with whom you wish to communicate, then consult the result proposed in the box below. Here you can already see, for contacts with Google accounts that have kept the default settings, the presence of the green dot I mentioned earlier and possibly start texting immediately.

Otherwise, you will find the words Click to invite to Hangouts or Invite just below the result: you must, therefore, wait for the contact in question to accept the connection request in order to start the conversation.

Chrome extension

Maybe you are not aware of it, but if you use the Chrome browser you can refer to an extension developed by Google to be able to use Hangouts from PC in a dedicated window.

To activate it, simply access this page of the Chrome Web Store and press the Add button located on the right, confirming the intention by pressing the Add extension button in the next window.

Then, to start it, press on the green balloon symbol located at the top right (or, if you already have several extensions installed, first press on the puzzle icon and locate the green balloon symbol from the list that is shown to you) and the messaging service will be loaded in a special pane.

The functionalities to understand if another user uses Hangouts are, in essence, the same as described in the previous chapters: in the main screen you will find the list of recent conversations, while clicking on the New Conversation button you can view the list of all contacts already in place.

By typing the email address, telephone or name of a contact with whom you have never interacted, finally, in the appropriate form located at the top right, you can access the functions to add him to your contact list.

In all cases, therefore, the presence of a green dot indicates that the user is connected and available, while its absence indicates that the account is not currently connected. If you see the option Invite or Click to invite on Hangouts, however, the ability to communicate is subject to the acceptance of the request by the recipient.

As you can see if you use Hangouts from smartphones and tablets

In case you prefer to use the Google messaging service from mobile, things change a bit: the indicator of the presence of a contact, in fact, is not as intuitive as it happens for the PC versions, but in any case it is not absolutely difficult to understand. as you can see if you use Hangouts from smartphones and tablets.

To begin with, it is good to know that the Hangouts app is compatible with both Android and iOS / iPadOS devices. To be able to install it, simply visit the links just mentioned and tap the Install / Get button. In the case of iPhones and iPads, identity verification may also be required via Face ID, Touch ID, or Apple ID password.

Once you have started the app by pressing its icon, to start a new conversation, press the [+] symbol located at the bottom right: on the next screen, if you have not already done so, I recommend that you accept the request to access the app to your contacts, to facilitate their identification.

The list of contacts shows, at the top, the connections you have interacted with most frequently. In this case it is not possible to determine the availability of a user through the green dot, as happens in the case of use of the service from a computer, however you can find the indication, on the right of each contact, of when the last access took place.

If you have granted the app access to your address book, continuing to scroll through the list you will find a section called Not on Hangouts: here are already listed the contacts in your address book that are not associated with Google accounts, from which you can request the possibility to communicate via Hangouts by clicking on the Invite button: once the invitation is accepted, you will receive a specific notification to start the conversation.

Alternatively, you can use the search form located at the top: enter, therefore, the email address, name or telephone of the user with whom you want to interact and always press on the word Invite to request the possibility of communicating via Hangouts.