Google announced on Wednesday the merger between Duo, its video calling application, and Meet, its video conferencing application.
Later this year, the Duo app will be rebranded as Google Meet, creating a single, free video communication service through Google.
Before renaming the Duo app, Google will add features to it that are currently available in Google Meet. Duo users will then be able to, among other things, schedule meetings in advance, customize virtual backgrounds, use chat during a meeting and use real-time captioning.
Contacts and messages won’t disappear
However, Duo users can also rest assured that existing calling features won’t go away, including the ability to initiate a video call using a phone number or email address. Chat history, contacts and messages will continue to be saved in the app, and there will be no new app to download.
“This integrated experience will give users a single solution for video calling and meeting with people from all walks of life,” Javier Soltero, vice president of Google, wrote in a blog post.
In recent years, Google has increased its investment in its video communication and digital collaboration tools as the Covid-19 pandemic has prompted people to seek out new communication tools. For Duo, Google recently introduced new features like group calls for up to 32 people, the addition of doodles and fun effects with family mode, and video calls on tablets, smart devices, and devices. televisions. For Meet, since being made available for free to all users in 2020, Google has rolled out over 100 features and improvements.
Source: ZDNet.com