I want to use Google+ as an IM text client to talk between my Nexus 4 and my friends WiFi only iPad as it seems the obvious choice for chatting between the two platforms. Where I am confused is that I obviously want the IM chats (hangouts) to be private between me and him or me and another person. I can't even tell if I can achieve this as I've read that hangouts are public in as far as viewable by anyone you're connected with. Is that right? Also, would I need to create a circle for each person I want to chat with independently to ensure everyone isn't in on the conversation?
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The conversations you are involved in are private. You can do chats between you and just one person, or do group chats with multiple persons/circles. Unless you've included a person in the hangout, others can't view it. I don't know the exact privacy policy associated with Google Hangouts, but you may be confusing elements of the "old" hangouts, which was a Google+ feature for doing video chats, with the current feature now that the Hangouts name has been applied to what used to be called Google Talk as well, which is the private chatting service.
No, you don't need to create separate circles for everyone independently...you can start a hangout with an individual, a group of persons, or an entire circle...but that's up to you. When you're in the hangout (whether started by you or someone else) you can always see who's participating in it.
EDIT: Just to add, I have found that Google Hangouts is one of the best ways to communicate with my friends who are on iPhone and/or wifi only devices. Almost everyone already has a Google account, and the hangouts app works great on both the Android and iOS platforms. I use it all the time.
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