Google's new Hangouts can't make phone calls
As the company integrates Google Voice into its social network, the latest update for Hangouts is missing the ability to make outbound phone calls. Users can still receive calls to their Google Voice number.
The latest Google Hangouts update removed the ability for users to make outbound phone calls, the company said Monday.
Nikhyl Singhal, a director of real-time communication products for Google, posted on Google+ that the company is working on adding outbound calls for the Web and the Chrome extension. Hangouts currently only supports incoming calls for users with Google Voice numbers. Users who still want to make phone calls can use Gmail's Google Talk while they wait for Google to make the function available again in Hangouts.
"Hangouts is designed to be the future of Google Voice, and making/receiving phone calls is just the beginning," Singhal wrote. "Future versions of Hangouts will integrate Google Voice more seamlessly."
Singhal posted in response to multiple complaints from users who were caught by surprise that they couldn't make Google Voice calls anymore.