DHAKA: Google from Wednesday began letting people use its Hangouts application to make free voice calls over the Internet and low-cost international calls.

Hangouts, which already made video calls and group video chatting easy following sending messages free, is now going to let people to say hello their nearest and dearest, said Google product manager Amit Fulay in a blog post, reports the Yahoo News on Thursday.

However, Google is essentially merging capabilities of its Voice online calling service with Hangouts, which became a hit feature in the technology titan's Google+ social network because of its free group video chat capabilities, the report added.

Moreover, calls to numbers in the United States or Canada, according to Fulay, are lower besides free between Hangouts users.

But, Hangouts calls will be available only in the new version of the application tailored for mobile devices powered by Google-backed Android software.

Though, on Apple devices or desktop computers, Hangouts calls should be possible when the updated applications are used.

BDST: 0020 HRS, SEP 12, 2014