Hangouts Hangouts is cool and you can add a lot of people to chat with! But there is a just a teeny little problem, we can call each other but still chat in the call not go into the hangouts app just staying at the call and not leaving to go chat in the normal place. Google Hangouts is going away — and if you’ve been dreading the day you’ll have to replace it with the honestly much nicer-looking Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet, we’ve got some brand-new. Use Google Hangouts to keep in touch with one person or a group. Available on mobile or on desktop, start making video or voice calls today. Official Hangouts Help Center where you can find tips and tutorials on using Hangouts and other answers to frequently asked questions.
Now that we’re done with the introductory part of our course on Google Hangouts, let’s get started using it! The first thing that you will need to do is download and install the Google Hangouts app.
There are actually a couple of different ways that you can get Google Hangouts. For example, if you have an account on Gmail, Google’s email client, then Google Hangouts comes built into it! You can also install Google Hangouts as a small add-on feature to many common web browsers.
The two most accessible versions of Google Hangouts, though, are the app for mobile devices and the computer desktop program. To get the computer desktop version of Google Hangouts, though, you will need to have Google Chrome (Google’s web browser) installed on your computer as well. This lesson will show you how to get both of these versions of Google Hangouts.
(NOTE: The instructions for downloading and installing Google Hangouts on mobile devices are based on a device running the Google Android operating system. We’ll provide hints as to how the process may differ on devices running Apple’s iOS operating system, such as iPads and iPhones.)
To download and install Google Hangouts for mobile devices:
Turn on your mobile device. Find the Play Store (or App Store on iOS devices), and tap it to start it up.
You should see a search bar in the top-middle portion of the screen (or top-right, on iOS devices). Tap it, and then use your device’s (virtual) keyboard to type in “google hangouts”. A list of suggestions should appear, tap the one that says the same as what you typed in. (On Android devices, the Google Hangouts logo should appear to help guide you right to the app’s page.) If you don’t find the app right away, you may just find it under “Hangouts”. Look for the logo of a single set of quotation marks inside a green speech bubble.
Once you find the Google Hangouts app, tap Install to start the process of downloading it and installing it on your device. (On iOS devices, you may need to tap Get first, and then tap Install.)
(NOTE: some devices that run the Google Android operating system have Google Hangouts as a built-in application. If this is the case, you will not have the option to install or uninstall Google Hangouts; merely to update it / roll back updates, or open it. In this situation, simply skip to step 4 if you wish to update Google Hangouts by tapping Update, or step 5 if you don’t wish to update it right now and simply Open the program.)
You may be asked to log into your Google account or Apple account before continuing. If there’s no way around it, do so. However, you don’t need to pay any money just to download and install Google Hangouts, so you may be able to skip or back out of that screen.
You will be informed of the additional functions on your device that Google Hangouts may need access to. If you’re okay with that, tap Accept.
Google Hangouts will begin downloading and installing on your device. When it finishes, tap Open to launch the app.
To download and install the Google Hangouts desktop app:
Download and install the Google Chrome web browser. See this help article on Google for instructions on how to install Google Chrome on your device, including download links and system requirements. (If you already use Google Chrome, skip this step.)
Open your Google Chrome web browser and go to the page for Google Hangouts in the Chrome Web Store. You can find it at this link.
Click Add to Chrome in the top-right corner of the page. (As you can see here, the Chrome Web Store will tell you whether or not the Google Hangouts desktop app is compatible with the device that you are currently using.)
The Chrome Web Store will notify you of parts of your computer that the Google Hangouts desktop app may need to access. If you’re okay with that, click Add App.
The Google Hangouts desktop app will be downloaded and installed on your computer; you can do a quick file search to find it.
Alright! You now have Google Hangouts on your desktop, or on your mobile device. Our next lesson will show you what you can do with Google Hangouts!
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Why should I use Google Hangouts?
- informal conversations with students (e.g., virtual office hours)
- work collaboratively on a project
- video, audio, and chat tools
- share screens, documents, and presentations
- hangouts are limited to 10 participants
How do I begin using Google Hangouts?
- activate Google+ in your NYIT Google Apps account
- create a circle
- start a hangout and invite your circles and/or individuals
Activate Google+
- Access google account via NYIT Google Apps. Log into the Why use Google Hangouts? portal at http://my.nyit.edu, and look at the menu on the left side of the screen. At the bottom of the list, you will find links to “NYIT Apps Docs,” “NYIT Apps Calendar,” and “NYIT Apps Sites.” Click on any of them to be taken to NYIT Google Apps. In the top left corner you will see your name with the “+” sign in front of it. Click on it. If you don’t see it, click on “More” in the toolbar at the top and then “Even More” and find Google+.
- Install (or make sure you have installed) the Google Talk Plugin.
Create a 'circle' for your class
Create a circle to include all the people you want to a group.- Create your class circle first.
- Then add your students to the class circle so you can communicate with all of them at once.
more information
Google Hangouts Google Hangouts
Start a Hangout
- Click Start a Hangout on the top right side of your screen.
- Add entire circles or individuals (individual students) that you want to hang out with.
- Click Invite to start the hangout and send the notifications to the people you chose. Note that, although you can invite as many people as you want to join a hangout, you can't have more than 10 people in a hangout at once. If additional people try to enter, they'll be told the hangout is currently full.
- Anyone you have invited can join the hangout at any time, so keep in mind that if you have invited multiple people this might not be the proper forum to have conversations with individual students about matters such as grades.
More information about Google Hangouts:
- Create any documents you are going to share ahead of time in Google Drive to easily add them to the hangout. You can open a Google doc or upload a file from your computer in a hangout, making it easy for you and your students to write or edit a document together from anywhere.
- The contents of the chat window will not be saved once the hangout ends. Instead, you can take notes in a hangout and access them afterwards.
- When youinvite people to join a hangout, a post will appear in their Google+ stream telling them that there's a hangout going on, along with all the people currently in that hangout.
- You can invite as many people as you want to join a hangout, but you can't have more than 10 people in a hangout at once. If additional people try to enter, they'll be told the hangout is currently full.
- All hangout participants are able to share the hangout with their own Circles. So, it's possible that people you don't know may learn that you're hanging out.
- Google Hangouts conversations will work more smoothly if you close other applications on your computer.
- 32 tips for using Google Hangouts in the classroom
In this class we will be using Google Hangout, a multi-way video chat. Please make sure that you follow all the instructions and set up prior to a scheduled meeting. You will need to become a Google+ user in order to join.
Google Hangouts For Chromebook
What you will need:
- Internet Connection and an updated browser, preferably Chrome http://goo.gl/2OS4u
- A device with a webcam (a computer or a laptop). You can also access a hangout from a mobile device or a tablet, but you might not be able to use all the features, such as note taking or shared document editing.
- Install (or make sure you have installed) the Google Talk Plugin.
Access google account via NYIT Google Apps:
Log into the portal at