Google+ app for iPhone updated to launch hangouts from Messenger

Do you use the video hangout feature of Google+ on a regular basis? If so, you might be happy to hear that you can now use your iPhone to join those video hangouts from the Google Messenger IM app. There's an update now available for the Google+ app that will give you the video love you crave.

I was interested in the hangout capability, which arrived back in September, because there's a meeting I need to join into every week or so. That meeting takes place in a Google+ hangout, and up until this time I've been tied to either a desktop or laptop. Now if I'm out doing my daily exercise walk or lounging on a cruise ship, I can pull out my iPhone or iPad and join into the meetings. If nothing else, it should be fun to see if I can videoconference and walk at the same time.

To join a hangout, you tap the Hang Out button while in a Messenger chat with others (see below -- and no, I am talking with Erica Sadun, that's not my name).

You can do the same for hangouts announced in the Google+ stream. I tapped a large green Join The Hangout button and was talking to fellow blogger Kelly Hodgkin and her baby in seconds (see picture at right).

We didn't try the hangout feature over 3G, but if any TUAW readers give it a try we'd like to hear how it works ... or doesn't.