Improved status and mood indicators come to Google Hangouts in Gmail

One of the biggest criticisms about Google Hangouts was the removal of the status indicator. While today’s update for Gmail doesn’t bring back the status feature, it does make it easier to see which friends are available to chat. Previously, friends who were able to chat were underlined with a thin green line. With today’s update, the line is replaced by a more obvious green bubble. Moods are new to Gmail, allowing you to set one of eighty emojis as your status. This is a fun way to let your friends know what type of mood you’re in, similar to Skype. Unfortunately there’s no way to set text as your mood. The update is rolling out today to all Gmail users. If you’re not using Hangouts in Gmail yet, you can enable it by clicking on your profile picture above your chat list and then try the new Hangouts.