Google Hangouts (formerly Google Talk) is an online chat and phone/video calling platform from Google. it was the default chat for google+ and gmail until google+ was closed. Since then, Google has experimented a lot with hangouts. it’s google’s answer to skype and slack with the company forcing it in the business direction. Google recently launched hangouts meet, which is made especially for gsuite customers.
hangouts is perhaps just a chat and video calling app for people in general. but did you know that there are many hidden tips and tricks and even easter eggs?
easter eggs? what are those?
In the tech and gaming industry, easter eggs are hidden features or tools that developers hide. these can only be accessed by entering a unique code or pressing a set of buttons in that particular way.
the first easter egg was found in the atari game adventure. In that game, programmer Warren Robinett hid his name within the game despite Atari’s corporate rule stating that programmers could not participate in the game’s credits. Since then, easter eggs have developed a lot, maybe not including illegal stuff, but fun stuff to get the audience excited.
google has never stopped surprising us with easter eggs. Every Android iteration has some sort of Easter Egg, which can usually be found by tapping on the Android version.
not only on android but even google search has easter eggs. try looking up the words “do a barrel roll” or “crooked.” Hangouts Easter Eggs add fun and liven up boring everyday conversations.
here are some cool tricks you can enjoy on google hangouts:
list of cool google hangouts tricks
1. cute ponies
everyone wants a little fun while chatting and what’s better than a running pony? type the command /ponies in a hangout chat and a pony will start running at the bottom of your screen.
If that’s not enough for you, you can also run a pack of ponies. just type /ponystream and you will see many ponies running from the left and right at the bottom of the screen. type /ponystream once more to make them disappear.
2. shy dinosaur
google hangouts not only have cute ponies, but also a shy dinosaur. type the command /shydino to make friends with the shy dinosaur. you can make her stay as long as you want. but when it’s time to go, use the same command again.
3. the background of the konami code
The Konami Code is a kind of cheat code that could unlock hidden things in Konami games popular in the 90’s. Similarly, when you use that code on Google Hangouts, the background changes to a green landscape.
use the konami code mentioned below with the arrow keys and press enter.
up up down down left right left right b a
4. more colorful backgrounds!
if you’re tired of the bland white background that hangouts offers by default, you’ll definitely like this trick. By using the /bikeshed command, you can change yours and even the background color of the other person’s chat. enter the command several times and each time a new color will appear.
If the person you’re chatting with doesn’t know this command, it’ll be fun to see how surprised they are!
5. angry mob with pitchforks!
Did the person you’re chatting with say something that made you angry? there is one thing you can do to get revenge! send them an angry mob with torches and pitchforks! well, at least you can do it virtually by typing the /pitchforks command.
After you hit enter, an angry mob will charge from the bottom right to the bottom left of the screen to get back at you.
You can even record your hangout conversation with this angry mob and send it to your friends.
6. old school emoji
google hangouts is not really a new chat platform. in fact, it’s been here since the days of ascii emojis like :). it still has some nifty old emojis that you can try even today. Some of the commands that generate emojis are: /tableflip, /facepalm, /shruggie, /dealwithit, /success, /happy, /shame, /puppyparty, /lit, /flowerbeam, /wizard and more.
7. corgi!
Corgis are fun dogs and even google hangouts have them. As you probably guessed, just type the command /corgis or /corgisparty to get an animation of corgis at the bottom of your screen. maybe the person you’re chatting with likes dogs and you might really like them if you use this command :p who knows?
8. roll a dice
We’ve all played board games and craps isn’t something that stays with us for long. google hangouts has another command where you can roll a dice and it will show you a random number. type /roll and click enter. a popup message will ensure everyone in the chat sees the result.
If you want a more creative approach, you can roll double, triple, or any number dice with either number side. type the command /roll3d6 for example. this will roll 3 six-sided dice. some other combinations you can try are /roll5d20 which will roll 5 dice with 20 sides each.
9. format your sentences
you may be formatting your sentences on whatsapp for quite some time. but google hangouts has this feature for a long time. These are also the same microsoft word commands here: ctrl + b for bold, ctrl + i for italics, and ctrl + u for underline. you can even use these formatting functions all at oncee!
10. select who can contact you
google and gmail have connections to the same people. Because of this, our friends, colleagues, and acquaintances often mingle with other people we may not know. but did you know that you can select who can contact you? go to the “invitations” tab and choose your invitation preferences in that menu.
11. 8 ball
Have you ever gotten caught up in a conversation where you don’t know what to say next? maybe the /8ball command will help you keep the conversation going. no, it doesn’t invite the other person to play pool with you if that’s what you’re wondering. what it does is generate random text responses. some of them include “very doubtful”, “as I see it, yes”, “better not tell you now”, etc.
12. me!
before you think about it, no i’m not talking about the new taylor swift song, but with google hangouts, you can use the /me command to refer to yourself and then write a sentence. for example, typing “/I am a great person” will appear as <your name> he’s a great person isn’t this a perfect way to address himself and also give a little praise once in a while?
It is important to know that these commands will work if and only if you type them as mentioned above. Also, it’s worth noting that some of these commands will work on desktop and the others are exclusive to mobile devices. you can check them out to see which ones work for you on your device.
so these were the best tricks and easter eggs for google hangouts. we hope you will be surprised after learning so many cool tricks. If we missed any of the cheats or you discovered some, feel free to comment below and share with everyone!