Gmail Gets Invisible Chat Option

Gmail Chat Invisble We all love Google Talk for a bunch of reasons, but one thing which I always felt as missed out from Google Talk was the ability to appear offline to your contacts. Both Yahoo and Windows Live Messenger had this feature sine a long time, and they allowed me to stealthily chat with my close buddies, while staying focused on my work.

Gmail’s built-in chat has now added a new status – "invisible", which does exactly the same thing. You can appear offline to your contacts by choosing "invisible" from the drop down status menu. With the invisible status, your contacts can’t see you online, but you’ll still be able to see their presence or even chat with them.

If you are using Google Talk’s standalone client or gadget, then this feature is not available to you. Unfortunately, Google seems to have forgotten about Google Talk desktop client. We can’t really blame them because Gmail chat is the most widely used flavor of GTalk!

[Via: Google OS]

This post was published by on February 25, 2008

About the Author: Thilak Rao works as a Social Media Expert. He is one of the first professional bloggers from India, and he loves to write, travel and click photos. Follow him on Twitter @thilak

  • http://tropophilia.com Jarred

    See my thoughts on why invisibility violates the social (networking) contract: http://tropophilia.com/2008/02/25/invisibility-a-violation-of-the-social-networking-contract/

  • http://green-flamingo.com Nathaniel

    I have only just started with google talk, or atleast what I think what is google talk, it came along with the new gmail address I added to have something other than a bluebottle account. For chats I use AIM, and one of my friends said it was bad for your computer, with all the spam chats or whatever. I don’t have those because I only have a few buddies, who, as you were explaining google talk enables us to do, appear offline or invisible. I love the feature!

  • http://www.gadgets4nowt.co.uk Steve Elliott

    That is certainly a welcome addition. I’m not generally one for appearing offline when I am not, but occassionally it would be good to have the option.

  • http://www.rapidsharetools.com RapidMaster

    A long awaited feature, finally added.

  • http://messenger.es/gmail-agrega-la-opcion-invisible-para-google-talk_2873 Gmail agrega la opción “invisible” para Google Talken messenger es todo sobre la mensajería instantanea. msn messenger, windows live messenger, programas messenger, messenger adictos, …

    [...] (vía: TechBuzz) [...]

  • http://www.meevy.com/2008/02/27/invisible-mode-now-available-for-gmail-chat/ Invisible Mode now available for Gmail Chat

    [...] via Tech-Buzz.net [...]

  • Jimena

    Hi, I’m using gmail but I don`t have the invisible option, do you know why?

  • Utsah

    can u plese inform me as to which version of gmail has the option of being invisible.. am using the latest version and it does not have any such option.

  • http://gainedknowledge.blogspot.com/ Billy

    There is a nice little secret backdoor I’ve discovered that will help you determine if your friends are actually offline or just hiding as Invisible on Gmail Chat. Here’s how: http://gainedknowledge.blogspot.com/2008/10/determine-whether-contact-is-actually.html

  • http://techbuzz.net swati arora

    there is no invisible option in my gmail chat
    can u just tell me why is it so ??

  • http://www.friendster.com/akyinnarboy akyinnar

    hi

  • sheetal verma

    my orkut and gmail acount is showing offline .

  • sheetal verma

    my orkut and gmail acount is showing offline .