Today, Google announced that it’s merging Meet with Duo. So far, the former has been primarily aimed at business users, whereas the latter is intended to be everyone’s video messaging app to compete with Apple’s FaceTime.
So, Google will add all of the Meet features into the Duo app in the coming weeks, and then, later this year, the Duo app will be renamed to Google Meet, at which point Meet will be the company’s single video communications service.
Even under the new name, Duo will retain all of its existing video calling features, and if you’re a Duo user, your conversation history, contacts, and messages will be safe because there will be no need to download another app. You’ll simply wake up one day to discover that Duo has a new name: Meet, as well as all of the new features on top of what you’re used to.
Customizable virtual backgrounds in calls and meetings, meeting scheduling, in-meeting chat, live sharing of content, real-time closed captions, video calls with up to 100 participants, “enhanced video and audio experiences with noise cancellation,” and integration with other Google tools such as Gmail, Calendar, Assistant, and Messages are among the new features.
If you’re already using Duo or Meet for free, you won’t have to pay anything for “the new experience.” If you’re currently using the Meet app, when Duo is renamed to Meet, you’ll be given the option to install that app when you open the old Meet app. Until then, the original Meet app will continue to function, and Meet in Gmail will be unaffected by the app shenanigans.
