Google has finally decided to unify its video conferencing applications and abandons Duo in favor of Meet.
Google is finally saying goodbye to its Google Duo video conferencing application. As it announced in June, the Mountain View company has introduced the features of Meet, its other videoconferencing application, into Duo, with a view to merging its two applications together.
At the beginning of July, Google therefore began the transition. The firm has thus begun to introduce into Duo the possibility of planning a video call or joining one in progress, using a virtual wallpaper, or even chatting during a call. Another advantage of this merger, Duo users will now be able to share live content during a call. It will thus be possible to watch YouTube videos, listen to music on Spotify or even start a game of Uno! with call participants.
Now that this step is complete, Google is officially starting to merge its two apps. Duo users should therefore begin to see their application now change its icon and name to become Google Meet. The consolidation of the two apps is expected to take place over several weeks and will be applied automatically via updates within the Google Play Store.
As for current Meet users, no changes should affect their experience. However, Google specifies that the icon of the current Meet application will be changed to that of Google Meet (original).
A necessary overhaul
The merger between Google Duo and Google Meet is rather good news. Not only because Google Meet offers many more features than Google Duo, but also and above all because the presence of two separate applications that allow you to do the same thing caused some confusion among users. Especially since Google is customary in this area. Because the Californian giant is also carrying out another project to merge other of its applications together. This is particularly the case for Google Chat, which should replace Google Hangouts definitively from November.
Source :
Google