Hangouts for Chrome updated with much more refined UI

Google has just released an update to its Hangouts for Chrome application which brings an interface that looks much more like the Hangouts Android app. As you can see in the screenshot above, the app now features a two column layout. The leftmost panel shows all of your recent contacts/messages and the rightmost panel shows your current conversation. You can also open up a pop-out window for individual conversations – a feature that was present in the past version, but definitely looks nicer now.

The new interface is available now on Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome OS. For those of you who are using Windows, Linux or Chrome OS and would like to get the new look, head to your settings menu and choose “Disable transparent UI”. If the changes haven’t made their way to your device yet, they should within the next day or so.