Google+ iPhone app gets Hangouts video chat and more

As promised, Google has updated its Google+ iPhone app with a slew of new mobile features, most notably the ability to participate in Hangouts group video chat.

Google announced the new features earlier this week, when it unveiled an updated version of its Google+ Android app. And with the iPhone app, Hangouts has instantly become the best way to perform group video chats across the desktop and mobile devices. (Add another notch to Hangouts’ collaboration prowess.)

Just like the Android app, Google has renamed its Huddles group messaging feature on the Google+ iPhone app to Messenger. As we reported earlier this week, Google was forced to rename Huddles because a UK collaboration startup already had global rights to the name.

Additionally, you can easily mention users in posts and comments in the iPhone app, as well as easily +1 comments.

Google finally opened up its fledgling social network to public signups earlier this week. Surprisingly, the company hasn’t really marketed the fact that Google+ is open now, but I suspect we’ll see more of a push in coming weeks.