+1 to this. I think one party or other will always have to maintain an additional app to support that use case. I have a group chat with a few friends who have

+1 to this. I think one party or other will always have to maintain an additional app to support that use case. I have a group chat with a few friends who have flitted between Android and iOS and the group has continued seamlessly for years. I'm not sure if there's a reason to go Hangouts over Whatsapp, other than both parties having to maintain an additional app