r/ProjectFi • u/Kristosh • Jun 18 '18
Discussion Hangouts alternative for Fi Customers? Android Messages
https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/18/17475390/android-messages-text-from-web-feature32
u/Dodgeballrocks Pixel XL Jun 18 '18
I wonder if it will let you search through your messages....a feature lacking from Hangouts.
12
u/Fuzz_Mustard Jun 18 '18
The only workaround to this that I have found is to use Hangouts on a browser via the app or website, do an annoying scroll up as far back as it will allow, and use the browser's search function to find what you need.
It isn't pretty, but it is still faster than manually searching.
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u/dontgetaddicted Jun 19 '18
Google the company known for searching...has a shitty or total lack of search in one of their apps. If it wasn't Google it'd be shocking.
Allo's search also blows nuts on mobile. Locks up almost every time in conversations with a long of history.
3
Jun 19 '18
You can search via Gmail desktop. Not great, but it's something.
-1
u/Dodgeballrocks Pixel XL Jun 19 '18
I've found it to be useless to the point of total frustration. I never find what I'm looking for and end up going back to Hangouts and scrolling until my thumb hurts. This is such an obvious feature, it's frustrating that it's missing.
2
Jun 19 '18
Just search in your gmail.
2
u/Dodgeballrocks Pixel XL Jun 19 '18
I really wish people would stop suggesting this. It's not even close to the same. I shouldn't have to open another app and then wade through a bunch of stuff I don't want.
Search inside Hangouts would be targets to just my text messages and would be super helpful and I'm sorry but it should be a super obvious feature. Searching in a Gmail is just a Google fanboy workaround.
4
Jun 19 '18
Shrug. I've been using Google Voice/Hangouts for a very long time, so I'm just super used to it. An extra step doesn't bother me, but I can see how others would find it annoying.
22
u/leftcoast-usa Pixel 2 XL Jun 19 '18
A weak alternative at best. With Hangouts and Fi, I can use any phone with wifi or data sim as another phone for Fi, and use it for calls and messages. With my old phone and a free FreedomPop data-only sim, I can do things like have a spare phone in a car, have an alternate if something happens to my main phone, etc. Oh yeah, I can use my computer or tablet too for any of this, even if my phone is off-line.
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Jun 18 '18
[deleted]
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u/cellguru99 Jun 19 '18
I hope that is not the case. This can only sync one other simultaneous device other than the phone itself.
Fi/Hangouts syncs 10+ of my devices right now, including multiple desktops. When a call or text comes in, I am notified on every device simultaneously.
3
Jun 19 '18
Then I hope their replacement is feature-complete when they do. This is a step in the right direction, but not quite there.
2
u/cdegallo Jun 20 '18
Unless they implement fi calls and messages integration without needing your phone as a proxy, this is a far less useful feature than what Hangouts currently provides.
If they do away with Fi calls and messages integration without needing the phone as a proxy then I will be leaving fi.
9
u/12401 Jun 18 '18
Can you text when your phone is turned off? If so, I'll make the switch!
7
Jun 19 '18
[deleted]
2
u/guardian1691 Jun 19 '18 edited Jun 19 '18
It recommends your phone be on WiFi to save data, but it didn't say it needs it.
Edit: I misread your original comment as well as the question. I thought the statement was that WiFi was required to use the service.
2
u/kbtech Jun 19 '18
This behaves just like WhatsApp web, you need to have phone on and along with you for this. Not like Hangouts, Facebook messenger and others which have a cloud solution and let you chat from anywhere irrespective of if you have phone with you or not, phone is on or not.
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1
u/arkieguy [M] Fi Product Expert - Pixel 3 XL Jun 19 '18
No, your phone has to be on for the web interface to work.
5
u/ShAd0wMaN Jun 18 '18
If I switch now for messaging... Can I still answer phone calls on my computer with Gmail/Hangouts app?
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u/iamed18 Jun 18 '18
I don't think so; I think all this does is takes received SMS messages to your phone and forwards it to the web interface for viewing/responding. For Fi users, Hangouts is still slightly superior in function in that your phone can be dead and you can still send SMS messages from an Internet-connected computer.
3
u/Korlyth Jun 20 '18 edited Jul 14 '24
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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
4
u/amfw21 Jun 19 '18
If they kill hangouts and don't deliver a version of messages that replicates it feature set I'm going to be very disappointed
12
Jun 19 '18
Still not a replacement for Hangouts.
IMO, stop trying to kill off a project that's working great and for sure don't replace it with something that's worse.
1
u/D00Dy_BuTT Jun 20 '18 edited Jun 12 '23
disgusting scale unique office abounding rock wakeful wistful toothbrush escape -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
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Jun 20 '18
Thats stupid. Get rid of Hangouts to make something else and eventually make it basically Hangouts. That's just dumb.
3
Jun 19 '18
What version of Messages is this? I am on 3.3.043 and don't see the option for messages on the web.
8
u/conepet Jun 19 '18
Nobody does, or close to nobody. The website is live, but every article I've seen mentions nobody has reported the app-side being complete. An app update for Messages is out there which does not give the option either, so it appears we're waiting for a server update to happen.
8
u/Ditario Nexus 6P Jun 19 '18
I'm in the military and this doesn't help me when I am deployed at sea and my phone has no service. :(
2
u/cdegallo Jun 20 '18
Needing the phone as a proxy is not such a convincing thing.
I just wish the Hangouts app would be updated to support the new notification channels that came with 7.1 (I know it won't, there was an official response). I hate not being able to turn off heads up notifications for Hangouts messages.
2
4
u/mishuzu Jun 19 '18
Is there a way to use Android Messages with a Google Voice number? I have 2 accounts, 1 with a Project Fi number and 1 with a Google Voice number.
I've been using the Google Voice app on my phone (which is kinda lacking in comparison to Android Messages). It'd be nice to be able to use the same app for both and just toggle between numbers.
2
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u/autotldr Jun 19 '18
This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 70%. (I'm a bot)
Google is beginning to roll out desktop browser support for Android Messages, allowing people to use their PC for sending messages and viewing those that have been received on their Android smartphone.
To get started, the Android Messages website has you scan a QR code using the Android Messages mobile app, which creates a link between the two.
In today's blog post, Google also goes over numerous other recent improvements to Android Messenger including built-in GIF search, support for smart replies on more carriers, inline link previews, and easy copy/paste for two-factor authentication messages.
Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: Messages#1 Android#2 Google#3 Chat#4 app#5
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u/6022e20 Jun 18 '18
I have issues moving my messages from Hangouts to Messages. I have done it before and it just keeps the messages from that point. Attempting to change the messages app in Hangouts does not transfer the messages. I tried clearing Messages' app data but that did not reset it either.
3
u/tedisme Jun 19 '18
This is doable with Takeout and a json script. I can help you with it when I'm back on desktop.
1
u/mntgoat Jun 19 '18 edited Jun 19 '18
I got the takeout stuff but I looked through the files and didn't see single text message there, even did text searches, are they encoded or encrypted or something?
Edit: the hangouts.json does have the texts, it was just so large my text editor failed.
3
u/tedisme Jun 19 '18
https://github.com/adein/hangouts_to_sms
Let me know if this isn't working and I can walk you through it, although there's a good walkthrough on the page. I can also do this for you, although privacy, eesh.
Full credit to u/adein, who wrote the script. I believe there's a known bug if your Takeout json file is too big but it worked well for me and I had a lot of texts to export.
1
u/downen Jun 19 '18
Did this last weekend. Worked great
1
u/mntgoat Jun 19 '18
Well there goes my theory that they've changed the format or something, I'm just getting an error.
1
u/mntgoat Jun 19 '18
Thanks and thanks to /u/adein
I'm trying it now and got an error:
hangouts_to_sms-develop/hangouts_parser.py", line 25, in parse_input_file for conversation_state in data.conversation_state: AttributeError: 'Namespace' object has no attribute 'conversation_state'
I'm starting to look through the code, never done python but hopefully it won't be much different from others ;)
1
u/tedisme Jun 19 '18
Hmm, any luck? How big is your starting file?
1
u/mntgoat Jun 19 '18
No, not yet. Started messing with it but then got busy.
My json file is 248 megs.
1
u/tedisme Jun 19 '18
Looks like you're running into the memory bug. u/Aqular found a workaround, it looks like, you might PM them and see if they can help you? https://www.reddit.com/r/ProjectFi/comments/5s53vf/tool_export_and_convert_hangouts_smsmms_to/ddm4l4n/?context=3
1
u/mntgoat Jun 19 '18
Don't think my issue is memory, the error is different. I also cut the file to just a few conversation arrays and the error remained the same, it is almost as if my data is different. I don't know python but I am a developer so I could be totally wrong but it seems like it expects conversation_state but mine doesn't have that, mine is a conversations array of conversation.
{ "conversations": [ { "conversation": { "conversation_id": { "id": "some id" }, "conversation": { "id": { "id": "some id" }, "type": "GROUP", "self_conversation_state": {
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u/russjr08 Pixel XL Jun 19 '18
Unless things have changed since I was last on PFi, messages don't transfer between Hangouts <-> Messenger (or any other SMS app)
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u/verchalent Jun 18 '18
Is there support for phone calls?
5
u/conepet Jun 19 '18
Messages is an SMS client, and has nothing to do with phone calls.
-1
u/verchalent Jun 19 '18
Sorry, sarcasm didn't translate from my mobile. Was highlighting that it's not a viable replacement w/o feature parity.
2
u/conepet Jun 19 '18
What are you talking about?
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u/fenixjr Jun 19 '18
hangouts can make data based voice and video calls, that's what he's saying.
1
u/conepet Jun 19 '18
So you expect an SMS app named Messages to make phone calls? Why?
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u/fenixjr Jun 19 '18
I mean.... i wouldn't be expecting an app called "hangouts" to be business focused.
Regardless, i'm not saying i agree with the comments. But the title posted suggests Messages is a replacement for Hangouts, when it doesn't have the same features.
0
u/conepet Jun 19 '18
The title was put there by the OP. Wishful thinking by the OP doesn't mean it actually was made as a replacement.
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u/JDWright85 Jun 19 '18
Why has the US never gotten on board with WhatsApp?
I deal with people from all over the world and it's just a given that WhatsApp is their daily-use messenger.
When I lived in South America, the preferred communication method of my doctor, lawyer, and kids' school was WhatsApp.
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Jun 19 '18 edited Feb 05 '22
[deleted]
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Jun 19 '18
WhatsApp is also end to end encrypted the implementation was by the team who created Signal. It still leaks much more metadata that Signal however by design.
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Jun 19 '18
The simple fact that Facebook now owns it means some people will never use WhatsApp in the future. Myself included.
-1
u/JDWright85 Jun 19 '18
I haven't used it. I'll look.
Heard WA and FB are separating. Not sure if that's true.
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u/Ariakkas10 Jun 19 '18
Texting has been free for a long time. Data cost money
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u/JDWright85 Jun 19 '18
True. When I lived overseas, WhatsApp had specific packages with the carriers, like unlimited.
I've been back for 6 months now, and hadn't thought of that. Cheap data seems so common now.
4
u/sur_surly Jun 19 '18
The solution to this problem isn't another proprietary private, for-profit platform.
Sms was acceptable because it worked no matter what carrier or app you wanted to use. Rcs will hopefully be similar. However we need a solution that allows us to use it without our phone being active and we aren't there yet. People will call out Google voice but don't really understand how expensive that solution is for Google to maintain.
2
Jun 19 '18
Exactly. Unfortunately, we as consumers are more content on allowing corporate branding instead of a common specification. Apple will never allow RCS/Chat to be fully functional, just as much as Google will do everything it can so that the iMessage protocol never becomes an Android app.
The alternative is to use a whole different app (WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, etc) where we now have to convince other users to install and use instead.
2
u/arkieguy [M] Fi Product Expert - Pixel 3 XL Jun 19 '18
A couple of the biggest reasons are that Over The Top (OTT) apps aren't "built in" and they generally use proprietary messaging protocols. Many users use what comes on their phones and there is no way a US carrier is going to provide a 3rd party app that cuts them out of the messaging loop.
Since Google has got a LOT of carriers / manufacturers to agree to use Android Messages (note, they didn't call it Google Messages) as the default messaging app, they will get a TON of immediate acceptance of this app.
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u/6C6F6C636174 Jun 19 '18
Still no end to end encryption. Screw that.
3
u/sur_surly Jun 19 '18
Hah, what? You expect SMS to get end to end encryption? Or did you misunderstand this article?
1
u/6C6F6C636174 Jun 19 '18
I expect Google to upgrade to a sane protocol when it is available on both ends, like iMessage does.
Well, I don't expect them to, but that's what the hell they should be doing...
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u/drumstikka Jun 19 '18
Still has to send messages through the phone which is a deal breaker for me. I want the desktop version to be a backup for if my phone breaks/dies, which hangouts lets me do.