By using a direct peer-to-peer connection whenever possible, video and audio is routed directly from the sender to the recipient, bypassing Google’s servers in the process.
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In today’s connected world, there are a slew of messaging apps available to allow users to communicate with each other. The latest version of Hangouts for Android is telling users that it’ll boost audio and video quality on future calls by making peer-to-peer connections “when possible”.
“Note: A direct peer-to-peer connection between you and the other person reveals both your IP addresses”. Having the IP address makes it possible to approximate users’ location, so it could be a privacy risk. It’s thought it will always work between two people using the latest version of Android, but Google hasn’t yet explained if iOS devices are eligible, or if older hardware could be exempt.
Google also elaborates on the point of peer-to-peer connections in a new addition to its Hangouts help page in Google Support. The company is also killing its SMS feature in order to make Hangouts standout among its rivals.
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Google has released a small update to the Android version of it Hangouts messaging app this week. We suppose on one hand it might be more secure, but at the same time it could potentially degrade quality of the call. In cases where the communication platform can not establish a P2P connection, it will continue using company servers as the middleman. The search giant wants to make a direct P2P connection between Hangout users who exchange calls on the platform. Skype, which initiated p2p integration, last month started hiding IP addresses by default.
