Google Hangouts app comes to Windows and Chrome OS

Fancy using Hangouts for your desktop convos? Well, Google has a new option for you: the Hangouts Chrome app. The “simpler faster” way to leverage the chatting tool offers a condensed list of contacts and conversations in a single window with alerts that allow you to quickly get to the proper thread. It’s tucked neatly on the side and separate from the Chrome browser, so the option is always available. And as long as the app is running, messages will sync across your gadget arsenal.

Google wants to make it easier and faster for customers to use its free video and voice chat service Hangouts, which is why this morning it is rolling out a new Hangouts Chrome App for Chrome OS and Windows PCs. (No word yet on Mac support). The app lets you use Hangouts alongside whatever else you’re doing on your computer, instead of having Hangouts buried within a sea of browser tabs. The app includes all the video and voice features found in Hangouts on the web, and includes support for dialing any phone number worldwide – a recently announced feature that works by way of the improved Hangouts dialer. And if you use Google Voice, you can do so through the new app in order to make and receive calls, listen to voicemails, and receive your Google Voice SMS messages.