We’ve known this was coming for quite some time now, but Google’s cross-platform messaging app - codenamed ‘Babel’ - has finally arrived and it’s officially called ‘Hangouts’. Replacing Google Talk and the “old” Google+ Hangouts, the new Hangouts becomes Google’s unified messaging service for all of their products. Hangouts is currently available as a native app for Android and iOS, a desktop Chrome extension, and within the Google+ and Gmail websites. The app allows you to text message your Google+ contacts, send photos, conduct video calls - which have been rebranded as ‘Hangouts On Air’ - and everything syncs across all of your devices. The app also includes over 300 hand-drawn emoticons, and perhaps best of all, notifications also stay in sync - if you clear a notification on your Android phone, it will disappear from your Android tablet or Chrome on your computer. Hangouts will eventually integrate Google Voice as well.

If you’re interested in trying it out, you will need a Google+ account. You can download Hangouts for Android, iOS, and Chrome, or check it out on Google+ or Gmail right now!

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