Two Problems with Hangouts

[tony7314]

Hey guys,

First time poster, long-time reader

Anyways I hope there will be updates to address the two following issues (or maybe someone here knows a solution)

1. When I get multiple SMS messages, I pull the notification bar down, click the notification, it enters me into one of the hangouts messages but it then marks the rest of the messages as read! The first day or so I didn't even realize it until I scrolled through my messages and noticed a ton of messages that I somehow missed. Then I kept my eye on it. It's basically marking messages as read when they aren't and that is a major problem IMO.

2. I hate that you can't tap the icon of someone in hangouts and pull up their contact information. In "SMS" for Android 4.3 you could always tap icon/picture of someone you are texting and it will pull up their entire contact sheet (email address, work phone numbers, etc). I thought you could do it in 4.4 hangouts by tapping the three dots and going to "People & Options" and then tapping the contact's name...but that doesn't even work! It would way too long of a process anyways but still better than nothing. Point is, if I am texting someone and they, for example, send me their email address I have to get out of the app and search for them in the People app and go through that whole process. Kind of weird they got rid of that simple function.

Anyways that's my rant.

 

[Lev16]

I'm fed up with Hangouts at the moment. Switched to Handcent (after a long hiatus) and I'm happier with it.

I used to use SMS Popup with my Messenger app and all was good. SMS Popup didn't play nicely with Hangouts, so it got canned. Hangouts so far is just OK. For some reason the notification doesn't clear if the thread is already open on my phone. I have to go back to the main page in order for that to happen. Or I have to manually clear the notification. Kind of annoying.

Handcent is nice because it turns the screen on and goes right to the txt msg when something comes in. Using Hangouts is a 4 step process. Turn on screen, unlock phone, drag down notification, click on notification. Shouldn't be that hard on 4.4.

 

[tony7314]

Great point on the 4 step process. Should not be happening in 4.4!

Make that 3 problems!

 

[gordonwd]

I was perfectly happy with the old Messages app and don't need any of the other features of Hangouts.

 

[jj14x]

Handcent is nice because it turns the screen on and goes right to the txt msg when something comes in. Using Hangouts is a 4 step process. Turn on screen, unlock phone, drag down notification, click on notification. Shouldn't be that hard on 4.4.

Hmm - I'm not sure I'd like my phone screen turning on everytime a text message came in, or for the phone to decide that looking at the text is more important than whatever else I'm doing (and take me directly to the text, when that is not what I may want to do)

I'm happy we have options because everyone likes their phone to behave in a particular way

 

[Lev16]

Hmm - I'm not sure I'd like my phone screen turning on everytime a text message came in, or for the phone to decide that looking at the text is more important than whatever else I'm doing (and take me directly to the text, when that is not what I may want to do)

I'm happy we have options because everyone likes their phone to behave in a particular way

Fair enough. For being such a customizable OS, I just wish we had the option to add that feature into Hangouts if wanted. If I get a text, I want the information as soon as I take my phone out of my pocket or look at it on my desk. Not sure why you would want to go thru a 4 step process to get that info. But you're right, to each his own. I'll be using Handcent with satisfaction for the time being.

 

[MartinS]

You can use Lightflow to at least make the screen come on for a few seconds when you get certain notifications.

 

[Rxpert83]

I was perfectly happy with the old Messages app and don't need any of the other features of Hangouts.

No problemo, you've got the option to not use hangouts

 

[chukka63]

all my texts are being sent twice

 

[jj14x]

Fair enough. For being such a customizable OS, I just wish we had the option to add that feature into Hangouts if wanted. If I get a text, I want the information as soon as I take my phone out of my pocket or look at it on my desk. Not sure why you would want to go thru a 4 step process to get that info. But you're right, to each his own. I'll be using Handcent with satisfaction for the time being.

You may be able to use tasker to do something similar. When text comes in, turn screen on, and open hangouts app. It should be a simple profile to create and install.

(it is a paid app, but in my opinion, well worth it)

 

[club968]

I've got the same issue where it looks like my texts get sent twice. When I ask the receiving party if he's getting duplicates however, he says no so it's just on my end. Then I switched to handcent and the problem would recur there too. If I restart the phone the problem will go away for a day or so but the problem has come back a couple of times.

 

[chadmd23]

Hangouts doesn't recognize carriage returns in SMS, it doesn't even insert a space.

 

[chukka63]

If you power your handset off with the power and home screen icon with a long press it should fix the duplicate texts.Well it seems to have for mine.

 

[Gekko]

one thing i really hate about Hangouts is the "Suggested People" thrown in your face. i have no idea why Google thinks they can know who i want to text. out of my almost 3,000 contacts Google thinks they know who i want to text? and the suggestions are really awful - they're not even people who i ever texted! at least use "Frequently Contacted" as your algorithm. NO - Google is suggesting people that are in my contacts that i have never even texted ever!!! it almost seems random! Google is smart but not very smart in this case! and i don't want random people being pushed in front of me when i'm trying to text close friends/family/whoever. it's confusing and distracting and always makes me constantly worried that i'm going to text the wrong person! they really need to change this to "Frequently Contact" rather than "Suggested People". anyone else agree????????

 

[Gekko]

If you power your handset off with the power and home screen icon with a long press it should fix the duplicate texts.Well it seems to have for mine.

i don't think so. i think it's just a bug with the new SMS integration with Hangouts. related - i see duplicates on MightyText on the PC side even though only one text is sent. they'll fix it eventually.

 

[chukka63]

Well, no one has received duplicate texts since i rebooted my phone.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOh maybe they have.Vodafone have confirmed its to do with the handset,so is it a problem with the hangouts app or the actual handset ????

 

[tomhill_007]

Hello,

I use the Hangouts app for my SMS'.
I wondered whether there was an option to have notification popups when the screen is locked/open instead of clicking on the app icon on dragging down the notification bar?

Thanks