Google Hangouts passes 1 billion installs on the Play Store

By Karen Tumbokon Published June 25, 2015

hangouts loses sms support google — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Google’s messaging service Hangouts first debuted in 2013 at Google I/O. The app has come a long way since it first arrived, and now, Hangouts works across all platforms, including Chrome, Android, and iOS. Today, Google Hangouts passed 1 billion installs on the Google Play Store.

Before now, there were only nine apps that had reached a billion installs, and most of them are owned by Facebook or Google. Facebook for Android was the first non-Google app to reach 1 billion downloads in the Google Play Store. Google Play Services, Gmail, Maps, and YouTube reached 1 billion installs before Facebook. Of course, most of these apps are built into Android phones.

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While Hangouts has a billion installations, that doesn’t necessarily mean it has a billion users. It just means the app has been installed one billion times on different Android devices.

According to Android Rank, the next Google app to reach 1 billion users will be Street View on Google Maps. Although, Chrome Browser and Google Play Music may beat Street View to the punch.

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Even though we haven’t seen a major update to Google Hangouts in a while, it looks like we’ll be seeing Hangouts 4.0 soon.

The folks over at Android Police say they have received a leaked copy of the latest Google Hangouts app for Android. Based on the screenshots, you can see it looks completely different from the current version of the app. The biggest change that you’ll notice right away is that all of the tabs are gone.

The new Google Hangouts will sport a floating action button in the bottom right of the app, which allows users to create new conversations, make video calls, and start a new group chat. The new app will also allow users to create status messages from the mobile app, a feature that was previously only available for Web users.

Unfortunately, at this time, we’re not sure when the new Hangouts will be released, but the new makeover does look polished.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Karen is a technology, music and entertainment writer. Originally from New Jersey, Karen began her writing career in music…

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