New Hangouts update adds SMS blocking, subtracts +

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Published 5 Jun 2014

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Disclosure

Hangouts has been updated with a few tweaks in store for those who use it as their SMS application. The update is relatively small, but the changes are pretty helpful. 

The new features in Hangouts include SMS blocking contact hiding. As you might have guessed, these features give you the option of blocking someone from sending you texts hiding a contact in the application. A new option in the settings will also appear to view edit your blocked hidden contacts.

Another small but helpful feature is individual notification tones, allowing you to differentiate messages from important contacts from the rest. 

Something easily missable while perusing the new Hangouts application is its lack of + profiles when tapping on a contact’s photo. The likelihood of a user relying on this method of getting to a person’s + profile probably isn’t great, given the recent departure of Vic Gundotra, its not surprising to see the service take a back seat.

The update is currently rolling out to devices, you can expect to see it available to you in the next few days if it hasn’t popped up already.