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Google Hangouts Will Let You Reply to Messages Without Opening the App

With this feature, you can reply to incoming messages from their notifications, meaning that you don’t have to jump into the full-on Hangouts app to reply to a message. On Tuesday, Google pushed out Hangouts 7.0 version for Android users, which packs in several new features that are bound to excite users. Well, Hangouts has come a long way and has got better with timely updates and addition of great features.

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Last year, Google released the Messenger SMS app for Android, and the company has said SMS integration will eventually be removed from Hangouts. However if you are a heavy Hangouts user and waiting is something not acceptable to you then you can download the Hangouts 7.0 APK from here. Unfortunately, this reply option will only appear when there is one message unread. The update is rolling out now from the Play Store. A floating screen will preview the message that a user has received and instead of heading into the app and responding to the conversation, users can directly reply with the new update. Meanwhile, Google wants you to switch over to Google Messenger as your default texting app, so you can also expect some pop-ups that advise you to make that switch.

Also new in this version is the ability to place a shortcut of a specific conversation or group message on the homescreen.

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There are a number of other, less interesting tweaks included in the update, such as some design changes to the settings menu and pop ups.

Hangouts 7.0 Pops Up, Introduces Quick Reply and Save to Home Screen