People who use Hangouts on Android recently got good news as Google released an updated version of the app that finally brings SMS support. On the Nexus 5, the new Hangouts app is the default SMS app. The new app has been very well received, despite the fact that it still does not bring Google Voice integration that everyone has been anxiously waiting for. A new bug has been discovered in the app by Reddit user Recon2012, one that can cause the app to crash.
The bug is actually related to the Emoji functionality in Google keyboard, which was updated with Android 4.4 KitKat and even as a standalone app. Basically the bug causes Hangouts to crash when a lot of Emojis are used in a Hangout with one or more recipient. Recon2012 says it took him 10 pages to trigger the bug and once its triggered, the app crashes. The app won’t launch again though, it will permanently hang on relaunch. Every person in that Hangouts chat will be subject to this behavior and not just the sender. The temporary fix for this is to log into Hangouts through a computer and manually exit the session from there. After that, the app should relaunch. While the bug is unlikely to bother you if you don’t douse your Hangouts conversations with an insane amount of Emojis, Googler Dan Morrill has confirmed on Reddit that the Hangouts project manager has been alerted and a fix should soon be on its way.