Tag Archives: Google Meet

Google Meet co-host support added for client-side encrypted meetings

What’s changing

Client-side encrypted meetings are now getting support for using the co-hosts feature. This means that an organizer can plan and book client-side encrypted video meetings on behalf of other users and assign those as co-hosts to allow them to join and open the meetings independently from the organizer. Client-side encrypted meetings differ from point-to-point encrypted meetings in the way they always require a host to join first. This task can now be delegated and shared between multiple users without the organizer ever joining the call.



Getting started


Rollout pace

Note: This feature is only available on the web as planning meetings with co-hosts can only be done on a computer.

Availability

  • Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard customers

Resources


Conduct direct 1:1 calls with people outside your video calling network on Google Meet mobile

What’s changing

Earlier this year, we introduced cloud-encrypted 1:1 video calls between users in the same domain using the Meet mobile app. In the coming weeks, users from outside of your domain will be able to initiate 1:1 video calls with your users and vice versa. Admins will be able to pre-configure this functionality as on or off for their users with a new admin control. The timeline for this update is as follows:

  • Admin control for restricting external calls placed directly to a user via their email: Admins will begin seeing the new control beginning today. 
  • End user availability: The external calling feature will begin rolling out to end users beginning in April.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users



Why it matters

1:1 cloud-encrypted video calling in the Meet mobile app makes it easier to connect with others by significantly reducing the need to create meeting links ahead of time. We’re expanding these 1:1 cloud-encrypted calls to allow users outside of your domain to initiate 1:1 calls, making it easier to connect with your external partners and stakeholders. However, to ensure external contact is appropriate, admins can turn this functionality on or off for their users.


Getting started

    • By default, users can receive calls only from contacts and other users in the organization. You can use the new admin switch to enable calls from outside your domain at the OU level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about restricting who can call users in your organization with Google Meet.
      • Note: This setting affects only Google Meet calling, not legacy services (formerly known as Duo) or calling in Google Chat. This also does not affect the ability to join meetings. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Meet legacy calling on or off for your users. Note that If you have legacy calling enabled for your users, they will have access to features previously found in Duo (group calls, messages, moments, family mode, etc.) if they have not upgraded to the new Meet app. 

  • End users: 



Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers

Check in to your meeting room directly from the Google Meet green room

What’s changing 

One of the challenges of joining a virtual meeting from a conference room, is that the people in the room are identified by the name of the conference room rather than as individuals. Google Meet’s room check-in feature helps ensure everyone in the meeting can see your name and be aware of your presence. If you’re using companion mode on the web, you can now check in to your meeting room directly from the green room. Then, when you enter the call, everyone will immediately see your name alongside the conference room you’re joining from. Previously, you were prompted to check in once you were on the call, which is still available if you did not check in from the green room.


Checking in from the green room ensures that everyone in the meeting can see your name when you join

Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers with Meet Hardware devices

Resources


The Google Meet API is now generally available

What’s changing 

In November 2023, we announced the availability of the Google Meet API through our Developer Preview Program. Beginning today, the Google Meet API is generally available. You can use the Meet API to: 
  • Programmatically create and configure Meet calls 
  • Retrieve information about past meetings, such as the meeting times and attendees. 
  • Access meeting artifacts, such as transcripts and video recordings 
  • Subscribe to real time updates on meetings, such as when a participant joins or leaves 

For more information, please reference our original announcement.


Who's impacted

Admins and developers


Why you’d use it

Integrating the Meet API in your product with the Google Meet API streamlines workflows and provides your product with Meet information that easily enhances your product offering. For example, partners such as Hubspot, Outreach, Salesforce, and Salesloft currently integrate the Meet API into their solutions to pull meeting recordings and artifacts into their conversational intelligence tools for analysis and sales coaching.



Getting started


Google Meet “companion mode” is now supported on your mobile device for great hybrid meetings

What’s changing 

Companion mode in Google Meet is designed to seamlessly connect those in meeting rooms with their remote teammates, giving everyone access to interactive features and controls, while leveraging the best of in-room audio and video conferencing capabilities. Currently, you can use companion mode from a laptop or desktop device. Beginning today, you’ll be able to use companion mode with your Android and iOS devices. 


Using Companion mode from your mobile device is a quick, light-weight way to participate in meetings without opening a laptop. This can be particularly useful in meeting spaces where room for a laptop is limited, or as an easy, discreet way to participate during large in-person meetings, such as all hands or town halls. 


Specifically, you can use companion mode to:
  • Check-in to the room to be identified by name.
  • Share an emoji reaction without interrupting the speaker.
  • Raise your hand to indicate that you’d like to speak.
  • Turn on captions to view subtitles as everyone speaks during a meeting.
  • Exchange chat messages with other meeting participants.
  • View and zoom in on presented content to easily follow along with the presenter on your own device.

You can also use the room check-in feature on mobile as well, making it easier for other attendees to see your name alongside the conference room you’re joining from.


Share an emoji reaction without interrupting the speaker.


Raise your hand to indicate that you’d like to speak.

Turn on captions to view subtitles as everyone speaks during a meeting.

Exchange chat messages with other meeting participants.

View and zoom in on presented content to easily follow along with the presenter on your own device




Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: 
    • This feature will be available by default. You can join a meeting using companion mode from the green room before your meeting. Use this Help Center article and video guide to learn more about using companion mode in Google Meet.
    • Note: Your audio and mic will automatically be muted—we recommend using meeting room hardware for audio and video to avoid feedback. 

Rollout pace


Note that the following minimum builds are required:

  • Minimum Android Build: 
    • Meet - 229. (Android Settings > Apps > Meet > [App Info > Version])
    • Gmail - 2024.01.28. (Android Settings > Apps > Gmail > [App Info > Version])

  • Minimum iOS Build: 
    • Meet - 225.0. (Meet App > Settings > About, terms, privacy)
    • Gmail - 6.0.231231. (Gmail App > Settings > About Gmail)

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers
  • Also available to Google Workspace Individual customers, as well as users with personal Google accounts

Resources




Google Meet hosts can pin multiple tiles for all meeting participants

What’s changing 

If you’re a meeting host or co-host, you can now pin up to three specific tiles for all meeting participants. By doing so, you can help ensure the meeting is focused on key presentations and speakers. This is especially helpful for large meeting scenarios like webinars where hosts need to focus everyone on particular content. Note that meeting participants can unpin these tiles on their screen if they wish.



This feature will be available for Google Meet on the web and mobile devices.


Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers


Resources


Pin chat messages in Google Meet

What’s changing 

You can now pin messages to the top of the meeting chat. Pinned messages will appear for all users, even if they join the meeting after the message was initially sent. This makes it easy to ensure that important messages - like links to presentations - are displayed prominently and easily accessible by meeting participants.


Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: 
    • Meeting participants can pin and unpin their own messages. Meeting hosts can unpin anyone’s message.
    • You can pin a message by hovering over it in the chat window and selecting the pin icon. Visit the Help Center to learn more about sending chat messages.
 
Use the pin icon to pin or or unpin a message.



Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts

Resources


For Google Meet Hardware, ‘Auto-Update Expiration (AUE)’ will now be referred to as ‘end of Meet support’

What’s changing

We’re making changes to the terminology that refers to  when a Meet hardware device is no longer supported:

  • ‘End of Meet support date’ replaces Auto-Update Expiration (AUE) in the Meet hardware Help Center.
  • The Admin console will show ‘end of Meet support’ instead of ‘EOL (end of life)’ in both device information and fleet overview pages.
  • The field name for “end of life” in Admin console’s CSV downloads will change from “eolDate” to “endOfMeetSupportDate”
End of Meet support as indicated in the device information page


End of Meet support as indicated in the Google Meet hardware fleet overview


Additional details

The end of Meet support date for Intel 10th generation devices have been extended from June 2028 to June 2029 to reflect their continued availability.


Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

  • This update impacts all Google Workspace customers with Meet hardware devices. 


Resources


Closed caption support in Google Meet expands to an additional thirty-one languages

What’s changing

We’ve expanded support for closed captioning to include the following additional languages:

-Afrikaans

-Albanian 

-Amharic 

-Armenian

-Australian English

-Basque

-Burmese

-Catalan

-English (India)

-English (Philippines)

-Estonian

-Farsi

-Filipino

-Galician 

-Georgian

-Hungarian

-Javanese

-Latvian

-Macedonian

-Mongolian

-Nepali

-Norwegian

-Sinhala

-Slovak

-Slovenian

-Sundanese 

-Tamil (India)

-Telugu (India)

-Urdu

-Uzbek

- Zulu



You’ll notice that the newly supported languages are denoted with a “beta” tag as we continue to optimize performance.

Getting started


Rollout pace

  • This update is available now for all users.

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources



Closed caption support in Google Meet expands to an additional thirty-one languages

What’s changing

We’ve expanded support for closed captioning to include the following additional languages:

-Afrikaans

-Albanian 

-Amharic 

-Armenian

-Australian English

-Basque

-Burmese

-Catalan

-English (India)

-English (Philippines)

-Estonian

-Farsi

-Filipino

-Galician 

-Georgian

-Hungarian

-Javanese

-Latvian

-Macedonian

-Mongolian

-Nepali

-Norwegian

-Sinhala

-Slovak

-Slovenian

-Sundanese 

-Tamil (India)

-Telugu (India)

-Urdu

-Uzbek

- Zulu



You’ll notice that the newly supported languages are denoted with a “beta” tag as we continue to optimize performance.

Getting started


Rollout pace

  • This update is available now for all users.

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources