Controls for restricting conversation creation in Google Chat available to more organizations

What’s changing

We are expanding an existing Google Chat feature, previously only available for Education customers, to more Workspace customers.

This feature gives administrators the ability to limit who can create new conversations in Google Chat. When this setting is applied to users (through an organizational unit or a Google Group), those users will be prevented from initiating new conversations, or adding new members to existing conversations.

Users with this restriction can continue to converse in conversations they are already a member of. 

Why it’s important

Similar to how this feature is used for students, it allows organizations to enable Chat for a segment of employees such that they can receive important messages and contribute to existing conversations, while limiting their ability to create new, unmanaged conversations. This helps provide a safer and easier way for organizations to communicate. 

Getting started

  • Admins: This feature will be OFF by default. It can be enabled for specific users by placing them in an Organizational Unit (OU) or a Google Group and applying the setting in the Admin console.
  • End users: There is no end-user setting for this feature. If this policy is applied to your account by your administrator, you will not be able to start new conversations or create spaces, but you can still reply to conversations you are added to.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Business Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Business Continuity and Continuity Plus 
  • Frontline Plus and Frontline Standard 

Resources

New to Google Meet: Continue your conversations in Google Chat

What’s happening? 

Starting November 10, your Google Meet in-meeting messages will be powered by and available in Google Chat. 

That means the meaningful feedback that was messaged during the meeting, or key resources and links that were shared are now easily accessible to meeting attendees after the meeting, in a shared Google Chat conversation.


This change brings the power of Google Chat to Meet, creating a richer in-meeting messaging experience. Meeting attendees can now respond to messages with emojis, and share images and files directly in Google Meet. Attendees can send pre-reads and other meeting materials to the group ahead of the meeting in Google Chat, and these resources will be available in Google Meet throughout the call. This launch also consolidates all your messaging and conversations into Google Chat, making it easy to find messages or shared files all in one place. 


This change is designed to improve post-meeting follow-through, leading to increased team productivity, and we’re excited for what this will mean for your teams and their collaboration. 

Getting started 

Admins: 

  • Availability: All end users in your org will have this feature on eligible meetings. 
  • Data retention & DLP: These messages are stored in a Google Chat conversation, and will respect the retention policies and Data Loss Prevention (DLP) rules you have configured for Google Chat. 
  • If disabled by host: If a host turns off continuous meeting chat for a specific meeting, that meeting will use the existing, unlinked in-call messaging. To retain such messages, you must record the meeting. 

End Users: 

  • Eligible meetings: This feature is available for meetings scheduled in Google Calendar. It applies to the meeting host and all other invited attendees who are part of the host's domain. 
  • Host control: Meeting hosts retain full control and can disable this feature for any meeting. This option must be toggled in the Google Calendar event's video call options before the meeting starts and cannot be changed once the meeting is in progress. 



  • External attendees: To ensure security and clarity, external attendees will only have access to the chat during the time they are in the meeting. They will not be able to participate in a conversation before a meeting nor see the conversation history after one. Internal attendees will see clear ‘external’ indicators and banners when guests are present in the conversation. 



Rollout pace 

  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (up to 30 days for feature visibility) starting no earlier than November 10th, 2025. 
  • Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting no earlier than Dec 3rd, 2025. 

Availability 

Available to all Google Workspace business and enterprise customers with the following plans: 

  • Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus 
  • Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus 
  • Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus 
  • Frontline Starter, Frontline Standard, Frontline Plus 

Resources 

Health Connect Jetpack v1.1.0 is now available!

Posted by Brenda Shaw, Health & Home Partner Engineering Technical Writer

Health Connect is Android’s on-device platform designed to simplify connectivity between health and fitness apps, allowing developers to build richer experiences with secure, centralized data. Today, we’re thrilled to announce three major updates that empower you to create more intelligent, connected, and nuanced applications: the stable release of the Health Connect Jetpack library 1.1.0 and the expanded device type support.

Health Connect Jetpack Library 1.1.0 is Now Stable

We are excited to announce that the Health Connect Jetpack library has reached its 1.1.0 stable release. This milestone provides you with the confidence and reliability needed to build production-ready health and fitness experiences at scale.

Since its inception, Health Connect has grown into a robust platform supporting over 50 different data types across activity, sleep, nutrition, medical records, and body measurements. The journey to this stable release has been marked by significant advancements driven by developer feedback. Throughout the alpha and beta phases, we introduced critical features like background reads for continuous data monitoring, historical data sync to provide users with a comprehensive long-term view of their health, and support for critical new data types like Personal Health records, Exercise Routes, Training Plans, and Skin Temperature. This stable release encapsulates all of these enhancements, offering a powerful and dependable foundation for your applications.

Expanded Device Type Support

Accurate data representation is key to building trust and delivering precise insights. To that end, we have significantly expanded the list of supported device types in Health Connect. This will be available in 1.2.0-alpha02. When data is written to the platform, specifying the source device is crucial metadata that helps data readers understand its context and quality.

The newly supported device types include:

  • Consumer Medical Device: For over-the-counter medical hardware like Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) and Blood Pressure Cuffs.

  • Glasses: For smart glasses and other head-mounted optical devices.

  • Hearables: For earbuds, headphones, and hearing aids with sensing capabilities.

  • Fitness Machine: For stationary equipment like treadmills and indoor cycles, as well as outdoor equipment like bicycles.

This expansion ensures data is represented more accurately, allowing you to build more nuanced experiences based on the specific hardware used to record it.

What's Next?

We encourage all developers to upgrade to the stable 1.1.0 Health Connect Jetpack library to take full advantage of these new features and improvements.

We are committed to the continued growth of the Health Connect platform. We can’t wait to see the incredible experiences you build!