
Google Hangouts Removes Merged SMS Conversations, Adds Video - aetherson
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/07/google-hangouts-for-android-removes-merged-sms-conversations-adds-video/
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niftich
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...](http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/01/google-
hangouts-7-0-for-android-asks-users-to-stop-using-it-for-sms/)

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

~~~
dragonwriter
> 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](https://support.google.com/hangouts/answer/6005073?hl=en)

~~~
curt15
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.

~~~
saurik
This feature was valuable with iMessage before Apple added that
synchronization, and frankly I bet in the grand scheme of things the vast
majority of people using these features on both iOS and Android do not ever
try to use a desktop to manage these messages (and in the case of Android
probably don't even know that's possible, as at least with iOS if you have a
recent version of Mac OS X you are highly likely to discover the feature by
accident).

~~~
williamscales
I wonder about that, given that Hangouts is directly embedded in GMail. There
might be quite a few more people who use Hangouts on the desktop.

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rdslw
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 :)

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jswny
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.

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cwkoss
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
This annoys me to _no fucking end_. Maybe one of the next 8 messaging apps
will get it right.

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

~~~
iamdave
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..

~~~
hackaflocka
> what's wrong with WhatsApp

It's owned by FaceBook.

~~~
iamdave
That's the best knock against it you can come up with? I'll take that over
"Love the app yet? Good because we're killing it" when owned by Google....

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nikolay
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!

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mwsherman
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.

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

