Google Meet web app unified with ‘Calls’ tab
The addition of a “Calls” tab to the Google Meet web app unifies the meeting side of the service with the legacy Duo direct dialing aspect.
On the web, the bulk of this transition occurred in 2022 when duo.google.com was updated (logos, favicon, etc.) with Google Meet branding to replace the blue video icon. That legacy URL was eventually redirected to meet.google.com/calling.
meet.google.com — Lets you start link-based meetings or enter a meeting code to join
meet.google.com/calling — Allows you to place direct calls, like Google Duo beforehand
Until recently, those two sites were not really connected. Now, there is a navigation drawer that lets you switch between “Meetings” and “Calls.”
Google explains how you can “Make and get calls in Meet: Now you can use Meet to call people, and they can call you, too. Click the Calls tab to get started.” The prompt somewhat suggests the functionality is new, but it all dates back to the Duo era. We’re only seeing this live for personal Google Accounts and not Workspace, though enterprise customers got something similar recently on Android and iOS.
On mobile, the Google Meet app, which was previously Duo, has had both the meeting and direct calling functionality for some time now. The “Meet (original)” app remains, with the video tab in the integrated Gmail app just offering meeting functionality.
More on Google Meet:
Google Meet can now detect when you physically raise your hand
Google Meet now lets enterprise users make direct calls without sending a link
Google Meet rolling out optimized ‘On-the-Go’ mode
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