Google Meet is getting a redesign and new features

Google Meet is getting a redesign and new features

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27 April 2021

Meet, Google's video-meeting service has received a massive redesign that includes several user interface changes for desktop users, as well as new features, including multipinning, which allows you to highlight several feeds instead of just one, as well as new AI-driven video capabilities for light changes, autozoom, and a new Power Data option that restricts data use on slow mobile connections.

Citron, Google’s Meet director of product management, noted that platforms like Google Meet have effectively become the “glue that holds the workday together” for countless teams and organizations that are now working from home. “In a world of hybrid work, meetings aren’t just virtual or physical,” Citron said. “They’re often a combination of the two as people connect from remote and in-person locations. So the concept of collaboration equity — the ability for everyone to contribute regardless of location, role, experience level, language, and device preference — is especially important.”

Meet now also lets you hide your own video feed from presenters if you don't want to show yourselves on the board. Google promises it will shortly make it possible to switch off self-feed for all Meet calls.

Video’s background replacement is something Google has anticipated but isn't able to carry out quite yet. Google can only deliver three scenes for the time being: a classroom, a party, and a forest.

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