Does iMessage work with Google Hangouts

Hi,

The process should be:-

Open Messages.

Click the + icon under the list of iMessages and Bonjour.

Select the Google Option

Use the ID as it appears when you login into Google (Google have two forms of ID @gmail.com and @googlemail.com) and Messages is more fussy than the Mail Login about which you use.

Use the Password you use at Google

You may, at this point in Sierra, get the message that it is already set up.

You may have seen it check the ID against the gmail and googlemail database (Google treat them as the same, it was originally used to denote if you were in the United States or not)

IF this is the case and you do use it for Mail then go to System Preferences > Internet Accounts and then the Google listing and Enable Messages.

Once this is done you may need to check the Server Settings tab on the Google Account in Messages and check it is using talk.google.com as the server and SSL with port 5223

I recently had trouble with this and had to remove my Google account in Internet accounts and then start in Messages to set up the Google account (which is added to Internet Accounts) and then enable Mail in Internet accounts afterwards to make sure the Messages app connected to the right server.

You will also have to visit the Google web site and go to the account's Settings and the security settings and Allow "Less Secure apps".

There is debate as to whether this is less secure or not but Google have deemed SSL connections as Less Secure. SO for apps that use SSL it has to be set.

Strangely they still allow Mail to connect using SSL without needing this setting.

8:19 pm Wednesday; January 18, 2017

Glad to have helped.

7:06 pm Tuesday; March 7, 2017

Hi,

Try going to System Preferences > Internet Accounts and then the Google option and activating the Messages option.

I myself have found this does not work.

I have a much older GoogleTalk option and I need to Delete the item in System Preferences.

Then I go to Messages and Add a Google account there then back to System Preferences to activate the Mail option.

This seems to work as the GoogleTalk server and Mail Servers are different.

If I try to set it up System Preferences or Mail first then the GoogleTalk bit will not login.

7:09 pm Friday; March 24, 2017

Hi, Ralph!

I was wondering if you knew: I'm setting up the Messages app on my Mac for the first time. My gmail account is my Apple ID, so in the Accounts window there is an entry for my gmail account with "iMessage" underneath it. So far so good. But if I try to set up a separate account entry for Google Hangouts (which, of course, uses that same gmail address), I get the error message "this email address is already set up." How do I have it all, Ralph?

Thanks so much for your help!

I recently had trouble with this and had to remove my Google account in Internet accounts and then start in Messages to set up the Google account (which is added to Internet Accounts) and then enable Mail in Internet accounts afterwards to make sure the Messages app connected to the right server.

This was the simplest and quickest solution for me, also if you use any non critical google characters they need to be stripped, ie a.cool+name(a)gmail.com would be acool(a)gmail.com

Hey Ralph,

So I tried all your previous steps and suggestions (thank you very much!) but I am getting the error message "You are already signed-in to the account xxxxx@gmail.com." My Apple ID is my Gmail address. Am I out of luck?

Thanks!

Thank you for the quick response! I have the messages turned on for Google accounts in System Preferences. But when I add the Google account to Messages I get that error still. I will try deleting the accounts and setting them using your steps.

Hi,

iMessages > No

The Messages app itself > yes. (Add it as a Google Account)

7:38 pm Tuesday; May 5, 2015

Hi Ralph,

I've seen several posts here and there from you about using the Messages app with a Google Hangouts account, so I'm assuming you're an expert :-)

I've been trying to get it to work, but to no avail. I've done everything right, but Messages just can't connect with Jabber. Messages keeps prompting me to enter the right password, which I then do, which doesn't achieve anything. I've searched Google's help pages and found references to problems with Google's two-step authentication and also to their assessment of certain apps that they're unsafe and are therefore automatically blocked from connecting. Two-step authentication is disabled for my Google account and I've also checked the box for "allow access by unsafe apps" (or something like that, but in Dutch). This is driving me crazy - I get the feeling Google is deliberately trying to make things difficult in order to push their Hangouts app.

Do you have any tips? Being an expert and all :-) ?

Rose

Hi,

For myself I started with what was and still is a GoogleMail Account and that became usable with the GoogleTalk function that Google started some while back.

This ID was then added to what was then iChat as a Jabber ID (Later there was a separate Google Account option).

You have to make sure the ID you enter is the same as when you log in to Google.

For me, I log in to the web mail page and it shows the ID top right in full.

Whilst the Mail app dos not seem to mind if you use @gmail.com or @googlemail.com it does make a difference in GoogleTalk (or what was the Google Talk server).

More recently I have not used 2 Step Verification and Allowed "Less Secure Apps" in my Google Account settings.

Then in the server settings tab of the Account settings in Messages I have the SSL option set and it uses port 443 (as I can untick the "Enable this Account" box I can make changes). It seems the GoogleTalk server will accept logins on this port as well as the normal 5223.

I have been offered a Google+ account but have never "converted".

However this may not be the case any more as Google may have moved everyone over to Hangouts, but I am unsure about this as I don't bother checking if I have access to other Google pages.

7:47 pm Tuesday; June 9, 2015

Hi Ralph,

Thanks for your reply. It drew my thoughts to the different types of Google accounts and how they might have changed over time, with maybe outdated functionalities or setting as a result.

So I decided to set up a brand new "clean" Google account, just for Hangouts use. No Google+, no 2 Step Verification and with "Less Secure Apps" allowed. In the Internet Account Settings on my Mac I unchecked every synchronising option except Messages and I left the server port unchanged.

AND NOW IT WORKS

Messages connected with Jabber immediately without a hitch and now my chat connection with my son (he has a Windows PC, so no Messages) is up and running. I don't have to log into Google in a browser, I don't have to use the Hangouts app (and run Google Chrome in order to do so) - I can chat away with everyone, regardless of IM protocols, from one single OSX app. This is the simplicity of use I want from my OS :-)

Thanks again, Ralph

Hi,

Glad it helped you find a solution.

8:15 p.m. Wednesday; June 10, 2015

Hey can you guide me how can you able to sync your old messages of hangouts

😕

Hi,

When I added my GoogleTalk it was when iChat 3 added Jabber abilities to iChat.

At that time there was no separate Google Add option.

You had to Select Jabber as the Add option and then Add your Google ID (and Password) and then after finishing the Set up you had to go to the Server Settings Tab and manually change the Server to talk.google.com

The reason for this is every other Jabber ID is the UserName@JabberServerName.com

So any app would strip the Username@ part away to use the Server name as the Jabber Server Name part.

As Google has two forms of Google Mail IDs then it would show googlemail.com or gmail.com as the server name.

As these two are the mail servers they don't work for the Jabber server.

More recently Google decided that SSL was not "good enough" for a login.

iChat, Messages and Mail all use SSL to login to Google.

You had to go to the Security settings at the Google Account page and enable "All Less Secure Apps".

I don't use their 2 Step verification and posts here seem to be mixed on whether it works with Messages.

Along the way Google have started Hangouts whilst also leaving Google Talk to continue.

A little while back (about six months) I was able to change to Hangouts and also return to using GoogleTalk.

This, from two years ago, suggests there was (is ?) a bridge between GoogleTalk and Hangouts

https://www.reddit.com/r/google/comments/1wo8vp/what_is_the_server_for_hangouts/

What is does not say is whether a Hangout ID can be used to login to GoogleTalk (A bridge would let you add Buddies with IDs from the other)

You could Video in iChat and Messages Mac to Mac (Not other Platforms)

You could Video in a Browser to Browser with a Google Video Plug-in.

You could not Video between a Browser Login and iChat or Messages (there is confusion in the Linked thread over this)

I searched the App Store for Google Hangouts and got several apps listed (I did not check which were iOS or Max OS types)

More recently my Google Account in Messages has changed to using this set up (Despite me changing it back).

It is not using SSL at all (Despite that being set at Google).

It is no longer using the talk.google.com server.

I "Googled" for Hangouts in Messages and this was the top hit

http://www.imore.com/how-use-google-hangouts-messages-app-your-mac

It looks good from the beginning (Although I dislike setting up things in Internet Accounts opposed to the apps themselves).

However the comments below that are less positive about it.

8:33 pm Saturday; May 28, 2016

HI,

I use goigle voice number as my bussines number and i hva google hangout app.

but i prefer to send or recive all message from my sms app on my iphone. Do you know how can i add google voice number to my imessage?