Google Hangouts Gets Updated to Bring Share Extension, Low Power Mode

Google's Hangouts for iOS indeed lets iPhone and iPad owners send instant messages (IMs), group messages, voice calls, and video calls using its cross-platform service. There's also support for photos, emoji, and stickers. And users can connect up to Google Voice, too, in order to integrate with their own phone numbers, and to enable SMS and voice recognition.

Today's update is notable for the two new features it brings to Hangouts. First, iOS users can now access a share extension inside the application, and this is something many of the app's users will appreciate. I use the share extension to perform a wide number of tasks each day on my iPhone and iPad (in fact, I can't imagine living without it now), and as such it's great to see Hangouts gain this feature — if, albeit, a little later than we might have hoped.

There's also another interesting feature: support for Low Power Mode under iOS 9. In version 9 of Hangouts, when users have Low Power Mode enabled on their handset, video in Google Hangouts is disabled (and calls occur over voice only). This, of course, will serve the user's aim to stretch out their remaining battery life as much as possible.

Google has take a sluggish approach to iOS development in recent months, especially concerning its wider products. Countless iPad Pro owners bemoaned Google Docs' lack of support for the larger 12.9-inch tablet. And although the app supports the big screen now, there's still no support for iPad multitasking.

You can download the updated Google Hangouts for iOS on the App Store now using the link below; it's optimized for the iPhone and iPad, and available free of charge.