Google has two video calling platforms: Duo, for video chats with friends and family, and Meet , a video conferencing platform designed for businesses and schools. Google has released an amazing number of new features for both platforms since last April.
Updates just in the past week:
- Meet is rolling out a 49-person grid view
- Meet is rolling out background blurring for Mac and Windows.
- The Meet mobile apps are getting a redesign to match the Meet experience in the Gmail app.
- Duo now has screen sharing on mobile. (NOTE: the Tweet announcing this has been deleted, so maybe not quite yet)
Read on for an overview of the major Duo and Meet updates since April.
- Communication tools
- Video calling on more devices
- Just for fun
- See more meeting participants
- Blur your background
- Fewer steps to start a meeting
- Meet in Gmail
- Mobile app redesign
- Meet on TV and smart displays
- Meet updates for education and business
Google Duo Updates
Google Duo is mobile-first video calling for friends and family. It has fun
augmented reality filters and is end-to-end encrypted for secure calls.
While you need to set up your Duo account on a mobile phone using your phone
number, you can
connect Duo to your Google account
to let people contact you using your Google account email. Connecting a Google
account also lets you use Duo on your desktop computer or laptop.
Communication tools
Over the past few months Duo calling has gotten a number of updates that make it
an even more useful communication tool:
- Group calls with up to 32 participants. This is increased from 16 participants.
- You can share a link to start a group call
-
Google Duo integration with Google Messages, the Android SMS and RCS ("chat") app.
- Screen sharing. This is currently rolling out to the Duo Android app, and will be available in 1:1 calls.
- Automated captions in English in the Duo mobile apps
Call on more platforms
You can make and join a Duo video call on your phone, the web, smart home
display or TV.
- Group Duo calls on the web. Previously only 1:1 Duo calls were available at duo.google.com.
- Group Duo calls on the Nest Hub Max. Set up your group in the mobile app, then say “Hey Google, make a group call". The Nest Hub Max has a smart camera that keeps you centered in the frame.
- Google Duo calls on Android TV are in beta. Plug a webcam into your TV and chat on the big screen.
Just for fun
Duo has some fun features on mobile.
- Family mode that lets you doodle on video calls. Control buttons are hidden so you can't accidentally hang up.
- Duo's AR filters are available in all 1:1 calls on mobile devices
Google Meet Updates
Meet was made available to anyone using a free Google account in May. Using Meet with personal accounts has some limitations:
- Limited meeting length: Personal Meet meetings are limited to 60 minutes, but this will not be enforced until September 30.
- No anonymous participants: All participants in a Meet meeting hosted by a personal account must be signed in to a Google account.
- No recording
- No dial-in phone numbers: participants must join on the web or using the mobile app
Note: I have focused on features for personal Google accounts. While most
of the features described below are available to everyone using Meet, some
features may be different (or not available) to G Suite for Education or Business users.
See More Meeting Participants
Meet is designed for large meetings. Personal accounts can host meetings with
up to 100 people, while G Suite Business, Essentials and Enterprise accounts
can host larger meetings.
In April, Meet introduced a new grid view that let you see 16 participants at
a time on the web.
Today, that has been
expanded to up to 49 participants, including (optionally) yourself.
You won't automatically see that many people. The default is 9 people if you
are using auto layouts, and 16 people if you are using tiled view. In
the Layout settings, there is a slider bar that lets you select a larger
grid.
1. Join a Google Meet meeting on the web
2. Click the 3 dot menu icon at lower right
3. Select Change Layout
4. Set your preferred layout to Tiled or Auto (if you want Meet to choose for
you)
5. Adjust the maximum number of people to show at one time
Meet will remember your preferred layout, but will always revert to the
default number of participants on screen. That means that if you want to see
more people, you will have to adjust that in every meeting.
You can choose to not see yourself by hovering over your face, and selecting
Remove this tile.
Meet also made improvements to layouts so that you can see other participants while someone is presenting.
Blur your background
Today
Meet announced background blurring is rolling out,
and should be available in the next few weeks.
There are currently some limitations:
- Only on Mac or Windows computers on the web.
- You must use the Chrome browser.
- Your computer must be a 4 core device or higher that supports Hyper-Threading.
It is not currently available on Chromebooks or on mobile devices, but those
should be options in the future.
The option to replace your background should be available in the future as
well.
How to blur your background in a Meet Meeting:
- On the Join screen click the 3 dot menu icon at bottom right of your video feed and select Turn on background blur
- After you have joined a meeting, click the 3 dot menu icon at the bottom right of your screen and select Turn on background blur
Note that you may need to
turn on Chrome hardware acceleration
for blurring to work properly.
Fewer steps to set up a meeting
Meet has made it easier to start or schedule a meeting. When you select
the New Meeting button in Meet on the web, Gmail on the web
or the Gmail mobile app, you will see three options:
- Get a meeting link to share
- Start an instant meeting
- Schedule a meeting in Google Calendar
You can also set up a new Meet meeting by adding conferencing to a Google
Calendar Event.
Meet in Gmail
You can now launch, join or schedule a Meet meeting in Gmail on the web or
the Gmail mobile app.
In Gmail on the web, there is a Meet section on the left sidebar with
buttons to Start or Join a meeting.
You can hide this in your Gmail settings:
1. Click the Settings gear at top right
2. Click See all settings
3. Click the Chat and Meet tab
4. Select the option to Hide the Meet section
In the Gmail mobile app, tap the Meet tab at the bottom of
the screen. You will see your scheduled Meet meetings, and buttons for a
New meeting or to Join with a code.
You can hide the Meet tab in the Gmail app:
1. Tap Settings on the bottom of the left menu.
2. Select your Gmail email address
3. In the settings, under Meet, untick the box next to
Show the Meet tab for video calling.
Mobile app redesign
There is a
new design for the Meet mobile app
with the look and feel that matches the Meet tab in the Gmail app.
This is available for iOS now, and will be available soon for Android.
Meet on TV and smart displays
If you want to see your meeting or class on the big screen, you can now
cast your Meet meeting to your TV with chromecast. You can also cast to a Nest smart display.
Open or join your meeting in the Chrome browser on your computer or laptop,
then click the Cast this meeting button to connect to your
Chromecast.
If you have a Google Nest Hub Max smart display, you can
start or join a meeting using just your voice:
- Say "Hey Google, start a meeting” to create a new meeting
- Say "Hey Google, join my next meeting" to instantly join your next scheduled meeting on Google Calendar
- Say "Hey Google, join a meeting" then tap the "enter a meeting code" option and type it in to join.
Meet updates for Education and Business
Google has also released a number of new Meet features specifically for G Suite for Education and G Suite for Business, with more in the pipeline. I won't go into those changes in detail, but I've included links below if you are interested in learning more.
To help the many businesses and schools affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, in April Google extended premium Meet features to all G Suite customers at no extra charge, including meetings with up to 250 participants, meeting recording, and live streaming within an organization. That promotion ends September 30.
More Google Meet updates for G Suite for Education
- Details on what's coming to Meet and Classroom
- Block Google Meet participants from knocking again
- Adding present and chat Meet moderator capabilities for education users
- More Google Meet participant controls for education meetings
- Anonymous users blocked from Google Meet for G Suite for Education meetings by default
More Google Meet updates for Business
- Introducing your new home for work in G Suite
- Coming to Google Meet: Roadmap for enterprise-grade meeting features
- Filter out disruptive noise in Google Meet
- Say “Hey Google” to do more with your voice on Google Meet hardware kits
- Re-imagine your future workspace with Google Meet Series One hardware
- New ASUS Google Meet Hardware starter kit and updated Meet compute system
More about different Google Meet editions
- Compare Meet personal account features to G Suite Essentials
- Compare Meet Features by G Suite Edition
What about classic Hangouts video calls?
Hangouts video calling is still available for personal Google accounts at
hangouts.google.com, the Chrome Hangouts extension or Hangouts mobile
app.
You can still make a Hangouts video call in Gmail by opening the conversation
with the person you want to call, then clicking the video icon.
There are no feature updates and there aren't likely to be any as Google's current focus is on Meet and Duo.
I love conducting my online meetings using Google Meet. It is one of the best online conferencing apps which is at par with likes of Zoom, R-HUB web video conferencing servers, Webex etc.
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