Tag Archives: Google Meet

Join a meeting using “companion mode” from Android and iOS tablets

What’s changing

Starting today, you can use companion mode on Apple iPads & Android tablets and foldable devices. Companion mode is a quick, light-weight way to participate in meetings without opening a laptop. This can be particularly useful in meeting spaces where room for a laptop is limited, or as an easy, discreet way to participate during large in-person meetings, such as all hands or town halls. 

Specifically, you can use companion mode to: 
  • Check-in to the room to be identified by name. 
  • Share an emoji reaction without interrupting the speaker. 
  • Raise your hand to indicate that you’d like to speak. 
  • Turn on captions to view subtitles as everyone speaks during a meeting. 
  • Exchange chat messages with other meeting participants. 
  • View and zoom in on presented content to easily follow along with the presenter on your own device. 
  • Use Meet in the split screen view, helping you multitask.Check-in to the room to be identified by name.
Check-in to the room to be identified by name.
Share an emoji reaction without interrupting the speaker
Share an emoji reaction without interrupting the speaker
Raise your hand to indicate that you’d like to speak
Raise your hand to indicate that you’d like to speak
Turn on captions to view subtitles as everyone speaks during a meeting
Turn on captions to view subtitles as everyone speaks during a meeting
Exchange chat messages with other meeting participants
Exchange chat messages with other meeting participants
View and zoom in on presented content to easily follow along with the presenter on your own device
View and zoom in on presented content to easily follow along with the presenter on your own device
Use Meet in the split screen view, helping you multitask
Use Meet in the split screen view, helping you multitask



Companion mode is already available for laptop and desktop devices, as well as Android and iOS mobile devices. 

Additional details 

  • Minimum Android build required: 
    • Meet: 308.0. (Android Settings > Apps > Meet > [App Info > Version]) 
    • Gmail: 2025.05.25. (Android Settings > Apps > Gmail > [App Info > Version]) 
  • Minimum iOS build required: 
    • Meet: 310.0. (Meet > Settings -> About, terms, and privacy > Version) 
    • Gmail: 6.0.250601. (Settings > About Gmail > Version) 

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: 
    • This feature will be available by default. You can join a meeting using companion mode from the green room before your meeting. Use this Help Center article and video guide to learn more about using companion mode in Google Meet. 
    • Note: Your audio and mic will automatically be muted—we recommend using meeting room hardware for audio and video to avoid feedback. 

Rollout pace 

Android: 
iOS: 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts 

Resources 

New host management control for who can ask to join a meeting

What’s changing

Meeting hosts can now control who can request to join a meeting (also known as “knocking”). This option is available when the meeting access type is “Trusted” or “Restricted” and can be configured:

  • From the Calendar invite by going to Video call options (gear icon) > Host controls >  Meeting access type. When “Trusted” or “Restricted” is selected, you can uncheck the “Anyone with the meeting link can ask to join" box.
  • During the meeting by going to Host controls (lock icon) > Meeting access type. As with the Calendar invite, you can uncheck the “Anyone with the meeting link can ask to join” box.

From the Google Calendar invite, select Video call options (gear icon) > Host controls >  Meeting access type


The addition of this option helps improve meeting security by ensuring only intended participants can ask to join while reducing disruptions caused by excessive knocking from unintended users.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers

Resources

Present content from camera in Google Meet

What’s changing

We’re introducing a new capability that lets users directly present content from their camera feed into a meeting, for example a document camera, video production tool, or an external camera. This is helpful for customers who utilize external production systems or other dedicated cameras to share video content during meetings, including:

  • Streaming produced video content (e.g., for town hall meetings).
  • Professional sharing live feeds from external video source (e.g. microscope, camera)
  • Educators presenting paper content using a document camera.

Additionally, Presenting content from a camera supports up to 1080p/30FPS.


Additional details

We're also introducing several improvements to the overall screen sharing functionality to make presenting smoother and more efficient:
  •  Starting any type of screen sharing (i.e. desktop, window or tab) is faster than before.
  • Additionally, video quality during screen sharing is sharper and provides better handling of dynamic scenes, such as scrolling text or video content.
  • To minimize disruptions, any previous presentation will now automatically resume if a second presenter stops sharing their screen.
  • We've also updated the user interface to make the screen sharing button larger and positioned more intuitively alongside other key controls, making it easier to find when you need it.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

Available for Google Workspace
  • Business Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Frontline Standard
  • Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus
  • Education Plus, the Teaching & Learning add-on, as well as the Endopoint Education Upgrade
  • Workspace Individual Subscribers

Resources


Present content from camera in Google Meet

What’s changing

We’re introducing a new capability that lets users directly present content from their camera feed into a meeting, for example a document camera, video production tool, or an external camera. This is helpful for customers who utilize external production systems or other dedicated cameras to share video content during meetings, including:

  • Streaming produced video content (e.g., for town hall meetings).
  • Professional sharing live feeds from external video source (e.g. microscope, camera)
  • Educators presenting paper content using a document camera.

Additionally, Presenting content from a camera supports up to 1080p/30FPS.


Additional details

We're also introducing several improvements to the overall screen sharing functionality to make presenting smoother and more efficient:
  •  Starting any type of screen sharing (i.e. desktop, window or tab) is faster than before.
  • Additionally, video quality during screen sharing is sharper and provides better handling of dynamic scenes, such as scrolling text or video content.
  • To minimize disruptions, any previous presentation will now automatically resume if a second presenter stops sharing their screen.
  • We've also updated the user interface to make the screen sharing button larger and positioned more intuitively alongside other key controls, making it easier to find when you need it.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

Available for Google Workspace
  • Business Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Frontline Standard
  • Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus
  • Education Plus, the Teaching & Learning add-on, as well as the Endopoint Education Upgrade
  • Workspace Individual Subscribers

Resources


Google Meet and Cisco Webex interoperability now includes presented content via a wired HDMI connection

What’s changing

We’re expanding the interoperability between Google Meet and Cisco Webex to include the ability to present content via a wired HDMI connection. This functionality will allow you to:

  • Present HDMI content into Webex meetings from Google Meet hardware devices
  • Present content into Google Meet meetings from supported Cisco devices. Wired presentations using HDMI and USB-C are supported, as well as wireless presentations using Apple AirPlay and Miracast. 

This is designed to make it even easier for our customers and their users to connect and collaborate with people outside of the Meet ecosystem. To learn more about interoperability between Google Meet and Cisco Webex, check out this previous announcement.

Presentation via HDMI in a Webex meeting on Google Meet hardware

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers with Google Meet hardware devices

Resources


Google Meet and Cisco Webex interoperability now includes presented content via a wired HDMI connection

What’s changing

We’re expanding the interoperability between Google Meet and Cisco Webex to include the ability to present content via a wired HDMI connection. This functionality will allow you to:

  • Present HDMI content into Webex meetings from Google Meet hardware devices
  • Present content into Google Meet meetings from supported Cisco devices. Wired presentations using HDMI and USB-C are supported, as well as wireless presentations using Apple AirPlay and Miracast. 

This is designed to make it even easier for our customers and their users to connect and collaborate with people outside of the Meet ecosystem. To learn more about interoperability between Google Meet and Cisco Webex, check out this previous announcement.

Presentation via HDMI in a Webex meeting on Google Meet hardware

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers with Google Meet hardware devices

Resources


Updates for configuring your preferred language for “Take notes for me”, recorded captions, and meeting transcripts

What’s changing

We recently announced additional language support for “Take notes for me”, recorded captions, and meeting transcripts. You can now set your preferred language for these features: 
  • From the Calendar invite. Your preferred language will apply to every meeting in a series.
  • During the meeting when using Google Meet on Android and iOS devices.
Choosing your preferred language from the Calendar invite

Choosing your preferred language during the meeting on a mobile device




Additional details

Available on iOS for:
  • Gmail: 6.0.250305.1795546
  • Meet: 298.0.72766

Available on Android for:
  • Gmail: 2025.04.06.744527406
  • Meet: 301.0.744527189

Getting started


Rollout pace

Mobile availability:

Calendar availability:


Availability

“Take notes for me” is available for Google Workspace:
  • Business Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Also available with the Gemini Education Premium add-on
  • Anyone who previously purchased the Gemini Enterprise* and AI Meetings & Messaging* add-ons will also receive this feature.
*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.

Transcripts are available for Google Workspace:
  • Business Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Starter, Standard, and Plus
  • Education Plus and the Teaching & Learning Add-on
  • Workspace Individual Subscribers

Captions included in a meeting recording are available for Google Workspace:
  • Business Plus and Standard
  • Education Plus for users with a "Staff" or "Student" license, and the Teaching & Learning add-on
  • Enterprise Essentials
  • Enterprise Starter, Standard, and Plus
  • Workspace Individual Subscribers
  • Google One subscribers with 2 TB or more storage space

Resources


Improve communication and representation with Dynamic layouts in Google Meet

What’s changing

We’re thrilled to introduce a brand new, redesigned layout experience for Google Meet that will improve communication and collaboration for all users, but especially for those in hybrid meetings. There are many exciting new features bundled in this extensive launch across Meet for web and rooms. Check out the video overview to see the new features in action and keep reading for more details:


Dynamic layouts:
  • “Portrait tiles” prioritize faces by cropping out excess background video
  • Optimized tile placement logic to enable much more efficient layouts that minimize unused space
  • Visual design refresh, including color-sampled tile theming for users with their cameras off
  • Larger room tiles in the grid when ‘Dynamic tiles’ is not active
  • More flexibility around how tiles are cropped, including self-view
  • Increased pin limit from 3 to 6 to provide more flexibility to customize your layout


Portrait tiles and various design improvements in action


Dynamic tiles:
  • An individual video tile is created for up to 3 meeting participants joining from the same conference room with Google Meet hardware
  • AI-enabled active-speaker detection automatically highlights only the tile of the in-room speaker without any special hardware requirements
  • Other meeting participants can pin these tiles in their layout as they would any other tile

Individual tiles for up to three meeting participants in a conference room


Face match:
  • When Dynamic tiles are in use in a room with a Google Meet hardware device, users can associate their name with their face from Companion mode on Web so their tile can be labeled. This creates a consistent experience where everyone can show up in their best light, whether they’re in the room or joining remotely. 

When using Companion mode, you can associate your name with your Dynamic tile




Who’s impacted

Admins and end users


Why it matters

These layout enhancements in Google Meet bring a refreshed, modern feel to the meeting grid while also adding the functional benefits of increasing space efficiency and improved representation for hybrid meetings. It allocates available space based on content being presented, tiles pinned by users, and more to address a core hybrid-work challenge  of remote meeting participants not being able to easily see or identify in-room users. 


Additional details

Please see below for more important information regarding these features:

Dynamic layouts
  • Legacy layouts remain available
    • Users who do not wish to see portrait tiles can still do so by switching from Auto (dynamic) to Tiled (legacy) in the layout options selection menu.
  • More flexible self-view options
    • Users now have much more control over the appearance of their self-view tile. When you set your self-view preference, it will carry over across meetings.
  • Framing and new uncropping functionality
  • Prevent your video from being cropped for others
    • Some users may prefer that their video feed never be cropped by other Meet users.  Users can select “Show my full video to others” from the three-dot overflow menu of their self-view tile. This will cause their video to always render as an uncropped tile for other users. We encourage sign-language interpreters especially to consider using this feature to ensure that arms and hands are not unintentionally cropped out.

Dynamic tiles
  • Dynamic tiles work in meetings with up to 3 in-room participants 
  • Dynamic tiles will automatically fall back to a room view if:
    • More than 3 people are detected
    • Users are sitting too close to give each user their own tile without significant overlap
    • There is too much movement detected in the room and it’s causing distractions

  • Platform support
    • Available for ChromeOS-based room devices at launch
    • AOSP (Android) device support is expected in the future
    • Not available in interop mode


Face match
  • Face match is available for any Companion mode web user checked into a room using dynamic tiles. Face match supports a maximum of 12 faces. 
  • Face match only associates your name with your face for Dynamic tiles when you are in view of the room camera for the duration of the meeting. A user may have to check in again using Companion Mode if they disappear from view for long enough.


Getting started

  • Admins: 
    • We recommend thoroughly reviewing the Help Center articles (especially if your organization uses Google Meet hardware) to ensure both you and your end users are prepared for these changes.

    • Dynamic layouts
      • Will be ON by default for all web and room devices.  There is no admin setting for this feature – only layout options for end users.

    • Dynamic tiles
      • You can control whether Dynamic tiles are ON or OFF by default when devices join a call by using the Default camera framing individual device setting. 

Devices > Google Meet hardware > [Device name] > Device settings > Default camera framing

      • Best practices for rollout:
        • Dynamic tiles work best when used in smaller rooms (capacity of 6 or less) where participants sit less than 10 feet from the camera.
        • Glass walls can sometimes cause people outside the meeting room to be picked up by the camera and given a tile – dynamic tiles should be deployed only after testing in these rooms.

    • Face match 
      • Face match will always be available in companion mode when room check-in and dynamic tiles are active on the associated room device. There is no separate admin or end user setting for this feature.

  • End users:  
    • Dynamic layouts
      • Will be ON by default for all web and room devices.  You can turn Dynamic layouts OFF by switching from Auto (dynamic) to Tiled (legacy) from the layout options selection menu in Meet (or to Sidebar or Spotlight)
    • Dynamic tiles
      • Whether Dynamic tiles are ON or OFF by default depends on the configuration of your admin. It can be turned ON or OFF from the framing section of your Meet hardware device touch controller or TV user interface menu.
    • Face match
      • Available via Companion mode if Dynamic tiles is active on your room device and when you check-in to that room device.

Rollout pace

Due to the quantity of features included in this launch, you should expect to see different combinations of the included features gradually become available over the next few weeks. 

  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 31, 2025
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 21 days for feature visibility) starting on April 17, 2025
.

Availability

  • Dynamic layouts are available for all Google Meet meetings on the web and from meeting rooms via hardware devices. They are available for all Google Workspace customers as well as users with personal Google accounts.
  • Dynamic tiles and Face match require a Google Meet hardware device and associated license.

Resources


“Take notes for me” in Google Meet is available in seven additional languages

What’s changing 

Today, we are excited to start rolling out support “take notes for me” in the following seven additional languages: 
  • French 
  • German 
  • Italian 
  • Japanese 
  • Korean 
  • Portuguese 
  • Spanish 

When you enable "take notes for me” in Google Meet, you'll see the language in which the notes will be taken. You can click on the language to change it or you can change your language from Settings > Meeting records > Language spoken in the meeting. Note that multilingual meetings are not supported at this time.

Turning “Take notes for me” on


All meeting participants will see a blue pencil icon on their screen and a notification that notes are being taken. They can click on the pencil to see the meeting notes taken so far.


Getting started


Rollout pace


Note: This update will be rolling out at a much slower pace than usual as we carefully monitor performance and quality. We'll update this post when the rollout for each language is complete.


Availability

Available to Google Workspace
  • Business Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Also available with the Gemini Education Premium add-on

Anyone who previously purchased these add-ons will also receive this feature:
  • Gemini Enterprise*
  • AI Meetings & Messaging*

*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.

Resources


More languages are available for recorded captions and transcripts in Google Meet

What’s changing

Starting today, transcripts in Google Meet are available in seven additional languages:

  • French
  • German
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Portuguese
  • Spanish




Additionally, captions included with a meeting recording will be available in three additional languages:
  • Italian
  • Korean
  • Japanese


Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about using recorded captions and transcripts in Google Meet. 

Rollout pace


Note: This update will be rolling out at a much slower pace than usual as we carefully monitor performance and quality. We'll update this post when the rollout for each language is complete.

Availability

Transcripts are available for Google Workspace:
  • Business Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Starter, Standard, and Plus
  • Education Plus and the Teaching & Learning Add-on
  • Workspace Individual Subscribers

Captions included in a meeting recording are available for Google Workspace:
  • Business Plus and Standard
  • Education Plus for users with a "Staff" or "Student" license, and the Teaching & Learning add-on
  • Enterprise Essentials and Essentials
  • Enterprise Starter, Standard, and Plus
  • Workspace Individual Subscribers
  • Google One subscribers with 2 TB or more storage space

Resources