After opening Google Plus to the public this morning with nine new features, including mobile video chat, Google has even more in store for mobile users. It just announced the death of Huddle, now reborn as Messenger, and threw in photo sharing for good measure. Messenger is available for Android and mobile Web users and will be on iOS “soon.” Probably not coincidentally, Google Plus group messaging now has the same name as Facebook’s Messenger app.
Mobile Plus users also get SMS support for posting, notifications, and group messages. Support for +mentions on the mobile apps has been improved (read: it works now). Users on iOS can now +1 comments straight from the stream (Android support coming soon). Finally, mobile users can now change profile photos and customize notifications.
The Google Plus mobile experience badly needed this refresh, and it’s now much more useful. Huddle was a strange feature that never seemed to work properly, even though it was the first dedicated mobile feature of the service. Now rebranded as Messenger and with the added capability of photo sharing, group messaging on Plus will be more compelling, particularly for Android users. Plus has always been extra special for them, since photos taken on Android devices upload instantly through Picasa as soon as they’re taken, appearing on Plus the moment the user posts them.
Do you use Google Plus on your mobile device? Which new features are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments.
