Remember Hangouts chats? I’m sure it rings a bell. Well, Google chat is just a revamped version of Hangouts chat with little changes here and there. If you are familiar with Hangouts chat then you should some of the features already. In today’s guide, I’ll be teaching you how to activate and use Google Chat.
Google Chat (previously known as Hangouts Chat) is a communication software that was developed by Google. This software was built for teams that provide direct messages, has a section for team chat rooms and also has a group messaging function that allows for Google drive content sharing.
Apart from teams, Google chat can be used as a form of communication between colleagues, friends, and family. The predominant difference between the Google Chat and the Room is that the Room allows for longer conversations while the chats are not suited for longer conversations. For example, Google Chat can be used to arrange a dinner between you and your friends, a date night, or even a movie night and once the conversation ends it’s done but the Room Chat once created can be named and allows for either join or leave, share notifications and also share files within the room.
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Does the Google Chat feature seem like something you’d use in your organization or something you’d like to use with your friends and family? Then before you’d be able to start using this feature you’d have to activate it first. Continue reading to learn how to activate and use Google Chat.
How to Activate and Use Google Chat
Learning how to activate Google Chat is quite simple and can be done using a mobile device (Android or iOS) or a Personal Computer (Windows or Mac). In today’s guide, I’ll be teaching you how to activate Google Chat on any of the above-listed devices.
How to Activate Google Chat on Android
If you own an Android device, then you can activate Google Chat on your device and start using all of its features. To learn how to activate Google Chat on your Android device, follow the set of instructions outlined below:
- Open your Gmail App.
- Tap on the hamburger (the three horizontal lines) icon located at the top left corner of your screen.
- Scroll down and tap on Settings.
- Select the Account that’ll be used to opt-in to Google Chat.
- Under “General“, tap on the check box next to Chat (Show the Chat and Rooms Tab) to activate the feature.
Once you activate this feature, your Gmail app will restart. Once it opens up again you’ll notice that you have two extra options at the bottom of your screen (the Chat and Rooms Options). If you have successfully arrived at this point, then you have learnt how to activate Google Chat on your Android device.
How to Activate Google Chat on iOS
If you own an iOS device, then you can activate Google Chat on your device and start using all of its features. To learn how to activate Google Chat on your iOS device, follow the set of instructions outlined below:
- Open your Gmail App.
- Tap on the hamburger (the three horizontal lines) icon located at the top left corner of your screen.
- Scroll down and tap on Settings.
- Select the Account that’ll be used to opt-in to Google Chat.
- Under “General“, tap on the toggle button next to Chat (Show the Chat and Rooms Tab) to activate the feature.
For iOS devices (iPhone and iPad) you’d have to manually close and restart the application to activate the feature on your device. Once you have done this, and you can see two extra options (Chat & Rooms) at the bottom of your screen, congratulations! You have successfully learnt how to activate Google Chat on your iOS device.
How to Activate Google Chat via a computer (Windows or Mac)
If you prefer accessing your email through your computer, then you can also activate the Google Chat feature on your computer. To learn how to activate Google Chat on your computer, follow the set of instructions outlined below:
- Open your browser.
- On the search type in “google.com” and log in to your account if you haven’t done so before.
- Click on the Settings (the gear icon) located at the top right corner of the screen.
- Click on View all settings.
- On the menu that appears, click on Chat and Meet.
- You are now faced with three options, you can either select Chat, Classic Hangouts, and Off. To turn on the Google Chat feature, click on Chat.
- Finally, click on Save Changes.
Once you have gotten to this point, you have successfully learnt how to activate Google Chat on your personal computer.
After activating this feature, you’ll receive a notification welcoming you to the new Gmail. You’d realize a few changes, rather than having the usual Meet and Hangouts boxes that are usually found at the left-hand side of your Gmail screen, it’ll be replaced with a Chatbox, a Rooms box, and a Meet box.
You don’t have to worry about your chats on Hangouts as all your chats will now be found in the new Chatbox and all you have to do would be to click on their names and a small window will pop up showing you all your previous chats. The only difference would be that all your blocked contacts on Hangouts will become unblocked when you activate this feature, so you’d have to block them again if you want to.
Now, like I promised you have learnt how to activate Google Chat on various platforms what’s left would be how to use Google Chat on those platforms. Continue reading to learn how to do so.
How to Use Google Chat
Google Chat can be used on the device it has been activated on. In this section of the article, I’ll be teaching you how to use Google Chat on your computer and mobile device.
How to Use Google Chat on a Computer (Windows or Mac)
After activating the feature on the computer, the next step would be to learn how to start a chat. To learn how to do so, follow the set of instructions outlined below:
- Open your Gmail Account.
- To start a chat you can either click on the Find a Chat link in the Chatbox or you can click on the “+” sign at the corner of the Chat or Room boxes. Whichever approach you use, a drop-down menu will appear before you.
- To chat with a single individual, type in their name on the top box and a small chat box will be opened but if you want to chat with more than one person then clicks on the Group Conversation. Once you do this, you’d have to select the people you want in this group from your list of contacts.
Finally, starting a chat isn’t the only thing you can do with Google Chat, from the drop-down menu you can also start a room, browse pre-existing rooms, and even search for message requests.
How to Create a Room with the Google Chat Feature
Like I had earlier stated, starting a chat isn’t the only thing you can use Google Chat for as it’s also possible to create a Room. To learn how to create a Room on Google Chat, follow the set of instructions outlined below:
- Open your Gmail account.
- Navigate to the Room box found at the left side of your screen and click on the “+” sign.
- Click on Create Room.
- Input the Room name and select the people you want to add to the room. If you would like to add someone that’s not on your contact list then you can just type in their email address to add them to the Room.
- Finally, click on Create.
After creating the Room, the selected people that are to be added to Room will receive an email with the link and once they click on the link they will be redirected to the Room, at this point they can either choose to join or block it.
How to Use Google Chat on a Mobile Device (Android or iOS)
After activating the feature on your mobile device, the next step would be to learn how to start a chat. To learn how to do so, follow the set of instructions outlined below:
- Open your Gmail App.
- Tap on the Chat icon.
- Now tap on New Chat found at the bottom right corner of the screen.
- You will be faced with four options, you can either type in the name of the contact to begin a chat or you can tap on Create a room, Browse rooms, and Message request. Since we want to learn how to begin a chat, we’ll just have to type in the name of the contact we would like to begin a chat with on the field provided.
- To create a Group Conversation, type in the name of the first individual then tap on the group icon that will appear in the same field you have typed the name to add other names.
If you have been following up to this point, then you have learnt how to begin a chat and also create a group conversation using Google Chat. Also note that while trying to create a Group Conversation, the targeted persons won’t be added immediately. They will receive an email containing a link and once they open the link, they can either choose to join or block it.
How to Create a Room with the Google Chat Feature Using a Mobile Device
To learn how to create a Room with your Mobile Device, follow the set of instructions outlined below:
- Open your Gmail app.
- Tap on the Rooms
- Tap on New room.
- Tap on Create a room.
- Input the room name and display picture then tap on next.
- Search for the person you want to add to the room and tap on them to add them. After adding them, tap on Create.
Once you create the group, all the people you selected will receive an email containing a link. After clicking the link they will be redirected to the room and they can choose to either join or block it.
To add a new message to the room, type the message into the field found at the bottom of your screen. Asides from adding a message to the room, you will find series of icons to the right of the field and with those icons, you can add emoji’s, upload a file, add a file from Google Drive, start a video meeting, and even create an event.
In conclusion, you now know what Google Chat is all about, how to activate Google Chat and how to use it via different platforms.