Google chat is the rebranding version of hangout chat which was a good workspace integration for instant messaging and video chat. It was released as Hangout chat in 2017 and rebranded in 2020.
Hangout chat was Google’s answer to slack. At that time, it was only available for workspace account holders. But at present, Google chat is free to all. Besides, it also gets revamped with new features according to the user’s demand such as group conversation.
Group conversation wasn’t enabled in Hangout chat for which workspace users go for slack to make group meetings.
But now, Google has its own separate application for virtual meetings called Google meet. And Google chat made messaging highly comfortable for both the regular and business purpose.
If you are a student, you can simply execute chat sessions between friends, remote working organizations can use it to organize employees.
In a word, Google chat is simple, productive, and features full integration that anyone can use as person to person instant messaging or group conversation and video communication.
If you have just heard about this application and got a little interest in what Google chat is and how it works, then go through the discussion below. You will get all about google chat in it.
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What is the specialty of Google chat?
Although we now have so many online communication and conferencing applications and even google workspace itself includes google meet and Duo as distinguished video communication integration.
Even then, google chat has a distinct user base who are using this from the hangout chat version or maybe before that.
Google chat offers a very flexible interface for both person to person and group communication. When you first open the application, you will get to see a slick white interface to instantly start with google chat.
In the starting window, you can start group conversation, create a room, browse the room and check message requests with a click.
There is also a search bar to find existing chat/rooms instantly. You can simply invite anyone to join in your conversation if he /she has a Gmail account.
Start group conversation with specifics and create rooms with individuals to have a more secure conversation.
Besides, google chat has some other specialties to mention here, such as.
Google chat collaboration
Google chat enables great collaborative environment where users can make video conferences, schedule meetings and share that with google calendar, send and share files while chatting, create and assign tasks in a room.
More than that, you can create google docs, sheets slide files and share them with the chat room. So, it looks like you can do more than just communicate with google chat.
Google chat integration
If you are familiar with google workspace integration, you know that they come with huge integration support of official and third party integrations.
All the google workspace products come as integrated with each other. For example, google chat is integrated with meet to enable video calling on the google chat platform.
You have google calendar option to schedule and go, google drive access to share files from your drive. and also, you can integrate a myriad of third party integrations that offer different functionalities with this.
Google chat accessibility
Google chat is accessible on both PC and smartphones. If you are a desktop user, then you can directly access it from here. Or you can open the browser and search for google chat simply.
In another way, you can install ‘google hangouts chrome extension to get it just there on your browser and get one click access. You can find the extension from the chrome web store, go to it, or direct search it on google.
Google chat has a standalone app that is a PWA (Progressive Web Application) that is used to provide a native app experience. To install the desktop app, you have to go through the above link. You can see a short pop up window appear with the install option
Click on the install button to get the app instantly. If you have already installed the standalone app on your device, you won’t get the above option.
However, you can access Google Chat from Gmail if you have turned on it in your Gmail.
On the other hand, if you are a smartphone user, you can easily find and install Google chat from the google play store. Similarly, iOS users can get the google chat application from the app store.
Google chat pricing
Google chat is a fermium service. So you can use it free but if you want to unlock its premium features, then you need a google workspace account.
With a workspace account, you can access all the collaboration applications of google. Google workspace has four individual plans which are,
- Business starter – $6 per month/user
- Business standard – $12 per month/user
- Business plus – $18 per month/user
- Enterprise – ask to google
With pricing variation, google workspace offers more in the high tier plan. For instance, the business starter pack includes 30 GB storage per user while the business plus offers 5 TB storage per user.
And the highest number of participants in a meeting also changes in each price plan of google workspace. So, if you are about to purchase google workspace, you should choose a perfect plan for your needs.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs):
Since Google recently revamped google hangouts chats and named it google chat, therefore people don’t use it, have questions on their minds about google chat. Look at below if you have any inquiries about google chat.
As we know from the above article, hangout rebranded and got its new name google chat. So, you can say both are the same but google made chat more updated and feature rich than hangouts.
Google chat came as a free application but hangout wasn’t free to use. In the hangout, users can only do messaging with each other but in chat, they can video conference with consumers and friends.
Google chat enables the private room option to chat with someone for longer. However, google chat/hangout chat isn’t google’s first chat app, over the years, it has also brought out some other chat applications including Google Talk, Voice, Buzz, Disco, Google+ Messenger, Hangouts, Spaces, Allo, etc.
When launching google chat, google announced that they would migrate the hangouts users to chat. So, if you were previously a hangouts user, you will have all the data backed up and restored automatically in google chat.
In your Gmail, you can enable google chat and send messages, start to collaborate with google chat from here.
If you can’t find the chat option on your Gmail, it means you don’t have it enabled. To enable it, open Gmail in the browser > click on settings icon > ‘see all settings’ > in the above settings menu bar, select ‘chat and meet’ > enable google chat.
When it loads, you can see the chat, room, and meet option in the left of the Gmail inbox. Now, you can start collaborating with your teams right there from your Gmail.
Yes, Google chat integrates Google meet to allow users to create video meetings in Google chat. You can execute video meetings with up to 250 participants from here. To start meeting, click on ‘Meet’ and you can start a new meeting or join in an existing one through the link. Copy and share the meeting link to invite someone.
Google chat ensures a safe and secure messaging environment. It has industry standard security for 1:1 messaging. When you send a message to someone, it uses Rich Communication Service (RCS) protocol and Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption to protect your messages.
All the messages, attachments, and images go as end to end encrypted. So, you don’t have to worry about security in google chat.
in google chat, anyone can create a room. Room is designed to help groups to manage tasks and communicate with each other. If you are a room member, you can create a task and assign it to other group members.
On the other hand, if someone assigns a task in the room, it will appear on your google task list. If someone edits or changes a task, a notification will appear in the room.
To create and assign a task in a room, you have to select the room you want to create the task. At the top of the window, click Task > Add room task.
After that you will have options like give a title to the task, add details, date, and time. Then you have to click ‘Assign’, then choose the person’s name you want to assign it. If you want to give the task to someone who isn’t in the room, you have to invite him.
Room in google chat is designed to provide more flexibility in collaborative tasks and group work. Room and group conversation isn’t the same in google chat.
In group conversation, you can directly message 2 or more people but the room is designed for more productivity. Here people can share files, assign tasks, and stay connected. You can give a name to the room, leave or rejoin.