You can now use your voice to send a Hangouts message from Google Now

Google Now has long allowed sending text messages or emails with a voice command. Almost two years later, the same functionality is now available for Google’s Hangouts messaging app.

It’s not clear when exactly the feature was added to the Google app (which incorporates Now and the Launcher), though it seems that it could have arrived with the most recent update.

To send a chat message via Hangouts, simply open up the voice command and say “Send a Hangouts message” or “Send a chat message.” Optionally, you can specify the name of the contact, like “Send a Hangouts message to Darcy LaCouvee.” If you don’t specify a contact, the app will ask who you want to message. Finally, you can also include the message in the initial command and Google Now will only ask you to confirm the message: “Send a Hangouts message to Darcy LaCouvee saying I will be late.”

The dropdown present in the interface suggests Google could one day let you use the feature with other chatting apps, but for now only Hangouts is listed, even though I have Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp installed.

Judging from the comments in this Reddit thread, the feature doesn’t currently work on Android Wear, where it would arguably be most useful. It will probably not take long, though.

The activation of the feature could depend on a server-side switch, meaning it may take a while before it’s activated for you, even if you’re on the latest version of the Google and Hangouts apps. Let us know in the comments if it works for you.