Google Hangouts Will Let You Reply to Messages Without Opening the App

Google Hangouts for Android has started receiving a new update that bumps the version to 7.0 and brings new features. The new app update is currently available to limited users and is expected to be pushed out to more users soon.

The latest Hangouts for Android update adds the new quick reply option to the app. With the new feature, users will be able to reply directly from notification tab by just hitting the reply button. The quick reply feature sends the reply without opening the app.

Apart from the quick reply, the app receives a new feature that will allow users to create conversation shortcuts on home screen. Users can create a shortcut by selecting the "Save to home screen" option from the overflow menu within conversation. The feature will allow users to continue the conversation with a particular contact and will offer direct access to the conversation, instead of first opening the app and then finding/ jumping to the conversation. The update also brings design tweaks that replace checkboxes, found on previous version, with toggles.

Currently, the Google Play India lists an old version of the Hangouts for Android (version 6.0) which was last updated on Tuesday. The Hangouts version 6.0 update brought bug fixes and performance improvements. We can expect Google to push the update to Indian users soon.

The company on Monday rolled out an update to its Gmail app that fixed Hotmail sync issue.

Google, earlier this month, rolled out its revamped weather card in Google Now, which includes new features along with major changes in design and looks. The new weather card is colour-coded on the time of day, unlike the previous one, which mostly included white background with minimal text in black and grey.