Hangouts may see SMS integration in the future

Many users who subscribe to the Google Hangouts platform were left feeling disappointed when it was seen that it did not have an integrated SMS feature in its new line up. This may not be the case in the future.

Yesterday Google’s G+ community manager of Hangouts and Chat, Dori Storbeck posted that the SMS option was one of the most requested features by users, and will be coming soon. She later edited the Google post saying that the company had nothing to announce at the time. While this flip flop about the feature leaves SMS integration into Hangouts looking ambiguous, speculation on the same still continues.  

Google Hangouts, one stop shop for your communication

Hangouts, which was launched on the Gmail, Android, iOS, and Chrome platforms at the Google I/O conference, taking place these last few days, has had its existing chat and video services integrated into one unified messaging platform. An interesting point that has been noted was that the platform already asks Android users to allow the app to read and send SMSes before the installation process. While there is no concrete evidence, it looks like Google is leaving itself a backdoor open, in case it comes up with additional features in the future.

Dori Storbeck posts on Google+

While talking about the other new features that Hangouts will have, Storkbeck later commented that future versions will support Google Voice features which will also including outbound calls. With all this, it isn’t hard to see that Hangouts may just become a one stop communication destination for many users. All that is needed is a confirmed announcement of SMS integration into the platform.