What’s changing
We’re thrilled to introduce a brand new, redesigned layout experience for Google Meet that will improve communication and collaboration for all users, but especially for those in hybrid meetings. There are many exciting new features bundled in this extensive launch across Meet for web and rooms. Check out the video overview to see the new features in action and keep reading for more details:
Dynamic layouts:
- “Portrait tiles” prioritize faces by cropping out excess background video
- Optimized tile placement logic to enable much more efficient layouts that minimize unused space
- Visual design refresh, including color-sampled tile theming for users with their cameras off
- Larger room tiles in the grid when ‘Dynamic tiles’ is not active
- More flexibility around how tiles are cropped, including self-view
- Increased pin limit from 3 to 6 to provide more flexibility to customize your layout
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Portrait tiles and various design improvements in action
Dynamic tiles:
- An individual video tile is created for up to 3 meeting participants joining from the same conference room with Google Meet hardware
- AI-enabled active-speaker detection automatically highlights only the tile of the in-room speaker without any special hardware requirements
- Other meeting participants can pin these tiles in their layout as they would any other tile
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Individual tiles for up to three meeting participants in a conference room
Face match:
- When Dynamic tiles are in use in a room with a Google Meet hardware device, users can associate their name with their face from Companion mode on Web so their tile can be labeled. This creates a consistent experience where everyone can show up in their best light, whether they’re in the room or joining remotely.
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When using Companion mode, you can associate your name with your Dynamic tile
Who’s impacted
Admins and end users
Why it matters
These layout enhancements in Google Meet bring a refreshed, modern feel to the meeting grid while also adding the functional benefits of increasing space efficiency and improved representation for hybrid meetings. It allocates available space based on content being presented, tiles pinned by users, and more to address a core hybrid-work challenge of remote meeting participants not being able to easily see or identify in-room users.
Additional details
Please see below for more important information regarding these features:
Dynamic layouts
- Legacy layouts remain available
- Users who do not wish to see portrait tiles can still do so by switching from Auto (dynamic) to Tiled (legacy) in the layout options selection menu.
- More flexible self-view options
- Users now have much more control over the appearance of their self-view tile. When you set your self-view preference, it will carry over across meetings.
- Framing and new uncropping functionality
- With the recently launched automatic framing improvements, Meet will optimally frame web users, including continuous adjustment for those users with custom backgrounds.
- Prevent your video from being cropped for others
- Some users may prefer that their video feed never be cropped by other Meet users. Users can select “Show my full video to others” from the three-dot overflow menu of their self-view tile. This will cause their video to always render as an uncropped tile for other users. We encourage sign-language interpreters especially to consider using this feature to ensure that arms and hands are not unintentionally cropped out.
Dynamic tiles
- Dynamic tiles work in meetings with up to 3 in-room participants
- Dynamic tiles will automatically fall back to a room view if:
- More than 3 people are detected
- Users are sitting too close to give each user their own tile without significant overlap
- There is too much movement detected in the room and it’s causing distractions
- Platform support
- Available for ChromeOS-based room devices at launch
- AOSP (Android) device support is expected in the future
- Not available in interop mode
Face match
- Face match is available for any Companion mode web user checked into a room using dynamic tiles. Face match supports a maximum of 12 faces.
- Face match only associates your name with your face for Dynamic tiles when you are in view of the room camera for the duration of the meeting. A user may have to check in again using Companion Mode if they disappear from view for long enough.
Getting started
- Admins:
- We recommend thoroughly reviewing the Help Center articles (especially if your organization uses Google Meet hardware) to ensure both you and your end users are prepared for these changes.
- Dynamic layouts
- Will be ON by default for all web and room devices. There is no admin setting for this feature – only layout options for end users.
- Dynamic tiles
- You can control whether Dynamic tiles are ON or OFF by default when devices join a call by using the Default camera framing individual device setting.
- Existing devices in your fleet will have Dynamic tiles OFF by default.
- Newly provisioned devices will have Dynamic tiles ON by default
- The setting can be configured for a single device on the device details page, for up to 50 devices using a bulk action from the device list page, or for an unlimited number of devices via CSV upload.
- Dynamic tiles will always be available on eligible devices (to be turned on manually) regardless of the default setting.
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Devices > Google Meet hardware > [Device name] > Device settings > Default camera framing
- Best practices for rollout:
- Dynamic tiles work best when used in smaller rooms (capacity of 6 or less) where participants sit less than 10 feet from the camera.
- Glass walls can sometimes cause people outside the meeting room to be picked up by the camera and given a tile – dynamic tiles should be deployed only after testing in these rooms.
- Face match
- Face match will always be available in companion mode when room check-in and dynamic tiles are active on the associated room device. There is no separate admin or end user setting for this feature.
- End users:
- Dynamic layouts
- Will be ON by default for all web and room devices. You can turn Dynamic layouts OFF by switching from Auto (dynamic) to Tiled (legacy) from the layout options selection menu in Meet (or to Sidebar or Spotlight)
- Dynamic tiles
- Whether Dynamic tiles are ON or OFF by default depends on the configuration of your admin. It can be turned ON or OFF from the framing section of your Meet hardware device touch controller or TV user interface menu.
- Face match
- Available via Companion mode if Dynamic tiles is active on your room device and when you check-in to that room device.
Rollout pace
Due to the quantity of features included in this launch, you should expect to see different combinations of the included features gradually become available over the next few weeks.
- Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 31, 2025
- Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 21 days for feature visibility) starting on April 17, 2025
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Availability
- Dynamic layouts are available for all Google Meet meetings on the web and from meeting rooms via hardware devices. They are available for all Google Workspace customers as well as users with personal Google accounts.
- Dynamic tiles and Face match require a Google Meet hardware device and associated license.
Resources
- Google Workspace Admin Help: About Dynamic layouts in Meet & on Meet hardware devices (for admins)
- Google Workspace Admin Help: Set default camera framing for meeting rooms
- Google Workspace Admin Help: Manage Google Meet hardware
- Google Help: Learn about Dynamic layouts, Dynamic tiles & Face match
- Google Help: Change the layout of meeting participants in a Google Meet hardware room
