Google Hangouts allow you to stay connected with all your friends and family as well as it helps you connect better with your professional network. The best part about Google Hangouts is that it helps you stay connected irrespective of the place that you are at or the device that you are using. Google Hangouts is available for all devices and at all places.

You can easily download Google Hangouts for your device at http://www.google.com/hangouts.

Pinning Contacts to the Top

You can easily search for a person through his/her profile picture in your Hangouts list and check if they are available online or not. If available, you can start a Hangout with them.

Google Hangouts also gives you an option to manage your contacts list and to pin a few specific people whom you need to talk to often. You can pin such people or contacts to the top of your Hangouts list so as to get each access to their profiles and make the Hangouts process quicker.

Available Contacts

The people who are available online for Hangouts can be recognized by the green dot that is visible on their profile picture. You can text them or start a video call. They will be instantly notified about your new message or video call invitation within seconds.

Those who do not have a green dot on their profile picture are not available in Hangouts. They will be notified if you text or send a video call invitation but not immediately.

New Features for Google Hangouts

Google has worked on making its Hangouts smarter by introducing a variety of new features. This new update of Hangouts comprises of introducing 16 sticker pads, new video filters for making calls, ability to add contacts through your phone contacts, smart location suggestions and much more.

Last Seen Timestamp

One of the most interesting elements of this update is that now Google Hangouts come with the last seen timestamps. This “last seen” timestamp shows you when your contact has last checked the Hangouts service. You no more need to ask if someone is there on Hangouts or not. You can easily check it through their last seen timestamp.

Enable your Last Seen for Google Hangouts

When you next share a status to tell people about your mood, also click on the check box next to “Show my last seen”. Doing this will allow your contacts to see when you were last using Hangouts.  If you uncheck this box, your contacts will not be able to see your last seen time.

However, if someone messages you, they can see if you are available. This happens when you click the conversation window or if you have your device status turned on.