Linux has no native Hangouts client
I use Ubuntu and Fedora on different machines, I also use (in some cases and as alternative to Telegram and Skype) Google Hangsouts to communicate with friends and for work.
Hangsout is available in many ways, also directly from the Gmail web page, but there are no clients for Linux.
I didn’t find a really native Hangouts client app for Linux. There are some apps, but no one is fully comfortable for me. I could use the web-browser way, but I’m an old school guy. So….
Use Pidgin to rule them all, Hangouts too
On my Linux machines, a really suitable solution is to use Pidgin and configure it as Hangouts client. Really easy to do that and the program works like a charm with Hangouts chats.
Solutions:
- It depends on your distribution. First command is for Fedora, the second for Ubuntu. Install the Pidgin app:
sudo dnf install pidgin sudo apt-get install pidginOpen the Pidgin client, add an account and select the ‘XMPP’ Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol.
- Put you username. It’s the first part of your Gmail email address:
user.name of user.name@gmail.com- Insert the domain:
gmail.com- Press ‘Save’ and connect.
Notes:
I use the two-factor authentication to sign in to my Google account, so I need an app-specific password to log in to Pidgin. Don’t work with my usual Gmail password. To do this, I must go to Google App Passwords and create a new password for the Pidgin app. If you don’t use two-factor authentication use your normal password.
Pidgin is almost useless in 2017, unfortunately. I used to just open Pidgin to connect to all my friends in every IMs, but now it’s over. I am too old to have tons of IM clients (specially the fucking ElectronJS ones) to chat today 🙁
Why did you say that it’s over? The latest commit in Pidgin repo (https://bitbucket.org/pidgin/) is from yesterday.
Yes, but almost 100% off my contacts are using Whatsapp, Slack, Telegram and others. I am trying to use some purple plugins, but only Facebook Messenger and Hangouts are working here.
Telegram plugin for Pidgin is OK.
The community is making a Slack plugin too
Thanks for the update about Slack plugin.
Thanks for update.
If you’re trying to get this working with G-suite accounts, there’s some slight differences in the setup:
– For the domain, use the domain of your G-suite account, not gmail.com.
– Go to the “advanced” and set the connect server to “talk.google.com”
It should work from there. Just be advised, there’s a LOT of missing features, including not seeing message history from before you start using this, nor messages you send outside of this messenger. YakYak isn’t great, but it really is a better solution. Though, it’s a resource hog.
Thanks for your contribution!