Google announced today that it is combining two of its video calling apps, Duo and Meet, into a single platform. Soon, there will be just Google Meet, and Google hopes that it will really make things easier for users.
See also: The Google TV app is now available on iOS
By bringing the two together, Google hopes it can solve some of the problems facing modern communication tools. “What was really important was understanding how people choose which tool to use, for what purpose, and in what circumstances,” says Javier Soltero, head of Google Workspace. Our digital lives are filled with a million different chat apps, each with its own rules and contact lists, some for business purposes and some for personal purposes. Google hopes it can use Gmail and phone numbers to bring them all together. “It’s really important to be able to be reached in that way,” says Soltero, “and to be allowed to decide whether you want to be reached or not, as opposed to having to manage all these different identities and deal with consequences.”
See also: SideWinder hackers install fake Android VPN app on Google Play Store
Soltero has been preaching this idea of “accessibility” for most of his tenure at Google, and it led Google to integrate Meet and Chat into many of its other services. It’s a good goal, but it comes at a cost: adding everything to everything has made some of services messy and complicated. You can start a meeting from anywhere! But… do you really want to? Streamlining communication options is a good idea, but cramming everything together doesn’t work.
Especially in the last two years, Meet has become a powerful platform for meetings and group chats of all kinds, while Duo has remained more of a messaging app. Google promises that it will bring all of Duo's features to Meet in the future , and it seems confident that it can offer the best of both worlds.
However, it’s not accurate to say that Duo is “killed.” The app, which Google originally launched in 2016 as an easy way to make one-on-one video calls , does a number of useful things that Meet doesn’t. For one, you can call someone directly—including phone number . Duo has always felt more like FaceTime than Zoom.
As the two services become one, Google is relying on the Duo mobile app as the default. Very soon, the Duo app will receive an update that brings a slew of Meet features to the platform. Later this year, the Duo app will be renamed Google Meet. The current Meet app will be called “Meet Original” and will eventually be retired.
This sounds… confusing, but Google claims it’s the best way forward. This is yet another attempt by Google to unify some of its previously disparate parts, making Google’s suite of services feel more cohesive.
See also: Google banned deepfake training projects in its Colab service
Meet is already integrated into so many Google services that it could become a substantial competitor to WhatsApp and FaceTime almost overnight, but only if it can be integrated without being annoying or complicated.
Source of information: theverge.com
