Google Hangouts Removes Merged SMS Conversations, Adds Video

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/07/google-hangouts-for-android-removes-merged-sms-conversations-adds-video/

by aetherson • 10 years ago

30 29 10 years ago

jswny• 10 years ago

I think Google is moving backwards in the messaging field. I've been trying to deal with having GroupMe, SMS, Hangouts, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram for years. The last thing I need is more fragmentation yet every time a Google messaging product is in the news that's exactly what they deliver.

niftich3• 10 years ago

Google's app strategy is truly bizarre. Make two of everything, then kill one a few years later, and make another.

Merged conversations are a feature that's immensely useful for users, and I can't fathom their motives behind removing that feature.

When they started deprecating Hangouts as an SMS app [1], Facebook swooped in and made their Facebook Messenger an SMS-handler app [2]. Given its massive install-base and much more assertive product strategy, I wouldn't be surprised to see Google's unclear strategy be their gain.

[1] http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/01/google-hangouts-7-0-f...

[2] https://techcrunch.com/2016/06/14/facebook-messenger-texting...

jessriedel• 10 years ago

Make two of everything, then kill one a few years later, and make another.

This may be a consequence of their sometimes-reported strategy of having two separate internal teams, as a way to try and get the benefits of competition within their company. But I agree, it leads to a mess that could be handled a lot better.

dragonwriter2• 10 years ago

Merged conversations are a feature that's immensely useful for users

Google's own information on customer response and usage disagrees: "Merged conversations used to let you see your Hangouts messages and text messages in the same conversation. We have decided to remove it, because it caused user confusion and had low usage." [0]

[0] https://support.google.com/hangouts/answer/6005073?hl=en

niftich3• 10 years ago

They're free to disagree; ostensibly they may have telemetry on it. But it was a feature the user could opt into if they so chose (if I recall, it was in fact opt-in [1]) and now they no longer have that choice.

[1] http://www.greenbot.com/article/2971862/android-apps/how-to-...

curt15• 10 years ago

Unsurprising that it "caused user confusion" since unlike with imessage, SMS messages were not synced with the hangouts desktop client so chunks of a merged conversation when viewed on the phone would be missing when viewed from the desktop. If conversations are to be merged, they need to look the same everywhere. The half-assed implementation that hangouts used is worse than not merging them at all.

Vexs• 10 years ago

Google apps are weird. I get the sneaking feeling they just make so much money they don't give a damn about usage, and just build the way they want to- which, apparently, leads to killing apps.

e12e• 10 years ago

I think this is taking it to the next level, even for Google.

They now make hangouts be on parity with Allo, except for no opt-in end-to-end encryption? Or is the difference that Allo allows encryption, and Hangouts allow group video chat?

BTW, I know I've used videochat via hangouts on Android some time in the past two years - but I guess maybe that was through chrome?

The good news is that there's some work on the open XMPP side, with conversations[1] (along with the OMEMO protocol [2]) and zom.im [3] -- so it looks like we're set for another xmpp revolution. And if that fails, there's always Matrix[4] (And the best part of that is that it's not either/or - we can have both. And everyone else can rot in their crummy message silos. Good riddance).

[1] https://github.com/siacs/Conversations

[2] https://conversations.im/omemo/

[3] https://github.com/zom/zom-android

[4] https://matrix.org/

hackaflocka3• 10 years ago

Anyone remember NetMeeting? It had amazing features in 1997, including screen sharing. Then Microsoft killed it.

Cross platform FaceTime / iMessage will be THE killer app.

Skype could've been it but Microsoft destroyed it.

Surprised Google hasn't been able to do it yet.

Hope WhatsApp doesn't win this space (shudder).

The clock is ticking.

kirkdouglas• 10 years ago

What's wrong with Skype? UI is mostly OK, but audio and video calls work fine, especially on desktop/laptop.

niftich3• 10 years ago

After being acquired by Microsoft, their product strategy for Skype was unclear. It was still offered as a standalone application, and at one point it got Facebook login integration and eventually Microsoft account integration. In 2013, they shut down WLM [1] and told everyone to use Skype.

Meanwhile on Windows Phone, it was discontinued on WP7 [2], while WP8 had native 'iMessage'-equivalent apps backended by Skype, but also a downloadable Skype app. If you installed both, you got double notifications. Was it supposed to be the platform-native messenger? On the phone, the answer was 'yes', but on the desktop it was 'no', or 'not yet'.

Desktop Windows 8 eventually also got a Metro app, but then it was killed [3]. Now they're about to release another one [4].

[1] http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/15/3991370/windows-live-messe...

[2] http://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-discontinues-skype-w...

[3] http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/06/micros...

[4] http://blogs.skype.com/2016/03/24/skype-universal-windows-pl...

iamdave2• 10 years ago

I was wondering what's wrong with WhatsApp. Sure it lacks video calling, but it's arguably my number 2 messaging app. Rock steady, deliver/read receipts, fast..

williamscales2• 10 years ago

Not on Linux.

hackaflocka3• 10 years ago

The text messaging sucks in multiple ways.

oedenfield• 10 years ago

I agree with you that Facetime/iMessage could have been the standard but Apple never opened it up (API/SDK). When iMessage was announced years ago they had an opportunity, now there are too many players and too much at stake (Facebook paid how much for WhatsApp?!).

JBReefer• 10 years ago

You're describing Facebook Messenger, which is my primary mode of communication

rdslw• 10 years ago

Somebody should write a business book: How to be in a winning position in an emerging sector (messengers) and lose it, not once (gtalk stagnation), not twice (hangouts introductions), but three/four/five times (all this current mess).

Facebook messenger/whatsapp/skype/telegram/iOS messenger shareholders send to google BIG THANKS :)

cwkoss• 10 years ago

Is there a way to force Hangouts to only use SMS?

It's annoying that if I try to text a friend with a google account that doesn't use Hangouts, it defaults to sending them a Hangout message.

Or, does anyone recommend a third-party SMS client?

mmanfrin• 10 years ago

This annoys me to no fucking end. Maybe one of the next 8 messaging apps will get it right.

hartz• 10 years ago

I've found that Google's Messenger app[0] is a nice, no-frills SMS app (not to be confused with Google's other messaging apps, or any of the other apps called "Messenger")

[0] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...

spacemanmatt• 10 years ago

As a semi-regular Hangouts user, I find this change to be a yawner.

mwsherman• 10 years ago

This separation is a feature, not a bug. SMS and IP chat have different enough semantics that trying to abstract over them will leak.

In my example, I was using iMessage and it captured my SMS in the same UI as IP chat. Then I changed to an Android phone, and my SMS would not arrive on that phone -- same #, same carrier. The issue was Apple's arrangement with the telco, and it required a support call to get that magic undone. Took days.

SMS and IP chat are different. The former is device-to-device, the later is user-to-user. The former is fire-and-forget, the latter has presence. Abstracting over these is a bad temptation.

That said, Project Fi actually gets it right. It make SMS and IP chat transport-agnostic, but at the network level, not papered over in the UI. It fulfills the promise.

nikolay• 10 years ago

Google's arrogance again. The message they send to us is: don't use our products, we keep ruining them. How can an opt-in feature be confusing?! It's confusing, because Google still sucks at UX! Make it not confusing - it's your job, and if you can't do it, hire somebody smart!

Google Hangouts Removes Merged SMS Conversations, Adds Video

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