Google Hangouts uses peer-to-peer connections to help with call quality

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Google's Hangouts platform uses peer-to-peer connections during calls when possible to help with stability. Allowing for direct connections between two peers enables the company to provide a more stable service without having to route through servers.

Whether you're rocking the web client or the official app for Android, there's nothing worse than poor quality video and voice calls.

To improve audio and video quality, Hangouts calls use a direct peer-to-peer connection when possible. This allows Hangouts to more efficiently route your call directly to the person you're talking to, rather than connecting the call through one of Google's servers.

As a side note, using peer-to-peer connectivity will make your IP address available for viewing, but this is a worthy feature for the app on your smartphone especially if you've found the call and video quality to be sub-par.

Source: Google

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Rich Edmonds
Rich Edmonds
14 Comments
  • The irony is, I find video calling on Google hangouts to be among the worst out there for quality and stability. FaceTime is far better.
  • But they are taking a step to improve quality, how is that ironic? Posted via the Android Central App
  • They have already taken these steps, yet quality and stability are worse as ever. The irony is they have been putting in more effort and getting worse results. Seriously, FaceTime 3 years ago was better than hangouts for video today.
  • Yep VZW Moto X DE/N7
  • Is there a iOS FaceTime compatible app for Android? Or is Hangouts it for us?
  • I wish... One of the only reasons I still use my iPad is because of Facetime... I would have replaced it long ago with an Android tablet, but my frustration with video calling on Android (and Hangouts on PC) is not worth selling it just yet.
  • Hence their move to P2P connections to improve that very thing.....as noted in the article above.
  • Is it Just You (tm)?
  • I noticed an improvement the other day. Hangouts is definitely not as good as FaceTime when it comes to quality Posted via the Android Central App
  • Now how about End to End encryption?...
  • Security doesn't seem to be a concern... with P2P calls, your IP address (and possibly your general location) is exposed to whoever you are talking to.
  • Decentralizing it may make it harder for the government to snoop.
  • Now all they need to do is make the rest of the app work well and it would be worth it. But the last time I used Hangouts, scrolling through my contacts or a conversation window was like watching a slide show. ~TheRealFixxxer
  • "As a side note, using peer-to-peer connectivity will make your IP address available for viewing, but ... " Does Hangout expose this or is it hidden? Seems like a good idea to make it hidden by default. Posted via the Android Central App