Earlier today (2nd June 2022), Google announced a new change that affects two of its video calling apps. The company is planning on merging both the Meet and Duo apps on smartphones into a single platform that will be called Meet.

The Search Engine giant said that it will be make the two mobile apps into a single video streaming platform that will be used on both iOS and Android. For those unaware, Google’s Meet is a video streaming app that can have as many as 250 people in a single video chat lobby. On the other hand, Duo is a free video chat app that is built more for personal use, rather than a professional virtual meeting.

After merging Duo and Meet, the brand will also take down the Duo app completely, leaving just the Meet app in the future. Javier Soltero, the head of Google Workspace stated that “What’s been really important is understanding how people make the choice as to what tool they’re going to use, for what purpose, in what circumstance.” Both apps were based around video streaming and even had quite a similar structure as well, but while one was built to accommodate one on one interactions, the other was built for larger number of members.

In other words, integrating the two apps makes sense for Google. But Duo did have an advantage of being able to call someone rather than invite someone to join a link. Duo’s mobile app will now become the default while the Duo app will be renamed Meet later this year. The version of Meet that is live right now will now be called as Meet Original.

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Google has rolled out two new features for two of its apps that users should find incredibly useful. The new features are for Google Meet and Google Duo and they improve how you use both apps.

For Google Meet, users will now be able to blur their backgrounds during video calls. When you turn it on, it blurs your background in a similar fashion as a photo taken in portrait mode. The feature has been available on some other video calling apps such as Skype, and it comes in handy seeing as most folks are working from home these days and there are times your apartment is untidy or you have objects in the background.

Google says the feature is available for only devices with 4 cores and higher that support hyper-threading. Unfortunately, it is not available on Chromebooks and mobile devices. Google says ChromeOS and mobile apps will get it later.

To blur your background, you can do it right in a meeting or before a meeting. When in a meeting, all you have to do is click the More button at the bottom right and turn on background blur. To turn it on before a meeting, go to meet.google.com, select the meeting, at the bottom right of self-view, click turn o background blur and then join now.

Google says those having issues using background effects can turn on hardware acceleration. To do this, open Chrome > Settings (top left corner) > System > use hardware acceleration when available.

Google Duo

For Google Duo, you will now be able to share your screen with friends and loved ones. So if you need to browse photos or plan activities, this should be easier to do and should eliminate the need to send screenshots.

Share more moments with your friends on Google Duo.

Now you can use screen-sharing to browse photos and videos together, and plan activities all while on a video call. pic.twitter.com/6LivivvqlO

— Made by Google (@madebygoogle) September 15, 2020

This feature is available for all Duo users.

UP NEXT: Google Duo is now available for Android TV

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Google Duo is a video calling app made by Google that is available for Android phones, iPhones, tablets, computers, and smart displays. Now, Google has added another device category – smart TVs running Android TV.

Yes, Google Duo is now available for Android TV four years after the app was published. Google did tease the arrival of the app on Thursday and said that it will be available in beta for Android TV. However, the Play Store listing on Android TV didn’t say the app is still in beta.

If your TV has a built-in camera, then you can make video calls but if your TV doesn’t have a camera, you can only make voice calls. Another option is to get a webcam as the Android TV platform (starting with Android 9) now has native support for webcams.

There is something important to note about the new feature. After installation, the app doesn’t show up in your app drawer or have a banner on the homescreen. The only way I was able to launch it is by going to Settings > Apps > Duo. Hopefully, an update will fix this.

When you make a voice call, the microphone on the remote picks up your voice while the voice of whom you are calling can be heard from the TV’s own speaker or any speakers connected to the TV.

Android TV gaining support for Google Duo makes sense especially now that video calling is now more popular among people.

UP NEXT: Google’s latest bad idea is to replace Duo with Meet

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