Google Hangouts Updated with SMS Integration, GIF support And HD Video Chat Feature

Recently, at the ‘A Morning with Google+' event, Google announced an updates for the Hangouts app. Among all the others, the new features like SMS integration, location sharing, GIF support and HD quality video chat comes with a major highlight.

The search engine giant also announced SMS integration for the app. Thus the app will now allow the users to send and receive SMS messages eliminating the need for users to use the Messaging app for just sending messages.

However, the location sharing feature will obviously let the users share their current location via Google Maps. This can be done simply by tapping on the location button located just next to the text input box.

Google Plus already supports the GIF image format and now the company has also said that the Hangouts app would also support it. The users will also be able to send animated GIFs and see them inline when they receive them within the Hangouts app,

The video Hangouts have also been updated with new features like HD quality video and Google's Auto Awesome feature that lets users alter the chat window and add effects like blurry background, focus and more. The app also automatically fixes and enhances webcam lighting which is quite impressive.

Google said that they have slowly started rolling out the updates and it should soon arrive on everyone's iPhones and Android smartphones.

According to Google, the updated Hangouts Android app will be rolled out in the coming days.