Google Hangouts makes its video-calls more available

Matt Davis

November 19, 2015

Only last month Skype made its video calls more accessible by not requiring an actual Skype account to be able to be invited into a video call. Microsoft’s move was a very good one when considering business people who have to connect fast even if they don’t have a Skype account. Google could not be left behind by its toughest video-call service competitor so they’ve announced today a new Google Hangouts update that will be launched this week.

Google Hangouts will now allow you to add anyone into a video-call even people who don’t have a Google account. The process is similar to the one Skype offers because you can add anyone into a conversation through a link that is automatically generated. One feature Google Hangouts wants to highlight is the fact that your video-call will be secure by giving the sender of the link full control over the conversations.

Apparently the Google account free video-call works through Google Calendar. Once you set up a Google Hangouts link all you have to do is to send a calendar invite. You can invite external guests through Google Calendar and they will receive the link in the event description where they have the option of filling in their name. To give you full control over the meeting you will be asked to accept or deny anyone who accesses your link.

With this move Google Hangouts is only trying to match up its competitors functionality, the update doesn’t really bring anything innovative but it is a good marketing move.