Tag Archives: Google Meet Hardware

Share your video feed when using Companion mode in Google Meet

Quick summary 

When using Companion mode in Google Meet, you can now turn your camera on and share your video feed with all other participants. For in-room participants attending a hybrid meeting, this feature helps improve collaboration and representation equity by giving everyone the ability to share their own video with other on-call participants.


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 on the web using Companion mode from the green room before your meeting. To share your video feed, select “Turn on camera” from the Meet toolbar.
    • Use this Help Center article and video guide to learn more about using Companion mode in Google Meet.

Rollout pace

Share your video feed when using Companion mode in Google Meet

Quick summary 

When using Companion mode in Google Meet, you can now turn your camera on and share your video feed with all other participants. For in-room participants attending a hybrid meeting, this feature helps improve collaboration and representation equity by giving everyone the ability to share their own video with other on-call participants.


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 on the web using Companion mode from the green room before your meeting. To share your video feed, select “Turn on camera” from the Meet toolbar.
    • Use this Help Center article and video guide to learn more about using Companion mode in Google Meet.

Rollout pace

Refreshed ASUS Google Meet Hardware kits available now

What’s changing 

Asus have refreshed their Google Meet hardware kits to give you powerful, easy to deploy solutions suited for hybrid work. 



Who’s impacted 

Admins 

Why it matters 


New hardware elements improve in-room experience
Debuting with the Asus hardware kits is the newly designed Google Speaker Mic for Google Meet (2nd gen). It provides excellent audio performance for your rooms with a sleek 30% smaller industrial design. It also comes with a magnetic table mount for easy installation.




Another part of the Asus hardware kits for Google Meet is “Myst Capture,” the new touch controller from Mimo. The Mimo Myst Capture features a refreshed industrial design which will give your conference rooms a more modern look. The new controller features standard HDMI and USB-C connectors and a USB-A connector for the speaker mic. Together with the included five-meter USB A-C cable, the new kit offers faster, simpler, and more reliable installations. 



Getting started 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers, with Google Meet hardware devices 

Resources 

New port for Google Meet media and TLS support for Meet on mobile

Quick launch summary 

Google Meet now supports SRTP in TLS on mobile, which increases overall compatibility and helps ensure a higher quality video meetings with Google Meet. 


In addition, Meet is introducing support to UDP port 3478 to deliver media (note that existing ports 19302–19309 deliver media as well). 


Getting started 

  • Admins: If you already use Meet today, configure your network to support Meet on port 3478. Note: If the port is blocked, Meet will fallback to port 19302​–19309. If you use DPI technology on port 443, add the corresponding user SNIs to the allowlist: 
    • Google Workspace admins: Meet traffic over TLS and port 3478 will use the same fixed IP range dedicated for Google Meet in Google Workspace domains. 
    • Non-Google Workspace admins: Meet traffic over TLS and port 3478 will use the fixed IP range dedicated for non-Google Workspace users. 
  • End users: No end-user impact. 

Rollout pace 

Meet traffic over TLS 
  • This feature is available now. 

Meet traffic over port 3478: 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers 

Resources 

Expanded access for noise cancellation in Google Meet

Quick summary 

All meeting attendees can now use noise cancellation capabilities in Google Meet if: 

Additionally, if a user has noise cancellation, it will function in all meetings regardless of whether the meeting organizer has noise cancellation or not. 


We hope that by making noise cancellation available to all meeting attendees will help improve the quality of meetings by limiting background noise distractions. 


Getting started 


Rollout pace 

  • This feature is available now for all users. 

Availability 

  • Noise cancellation is on by default for: Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Frontline, Enterprise Plus, and Workspace Individual Subscriber accounts. 
  • Noise cancellation is off by default for: Education Plus, and Teaching and Learning Upgrade accounts. 
  • For all Google Workspace accounts: If the settings is on by default for your organization in a meeting with other people outside of your organization, they can also use this feature during that meeting. 

Resources 

Built-in Webex interoperability on Google Meet hardware expanded to devices with remote control

What’s changing 

In December 2022, we began supporting built-in Webex interoperability on Google Meet hardware devices. When it originally launched, this feature required a Meet hardware device with either a connected touch controller or built-in touchscreen. With this latest update, we've added Webex interoperability support for Google Meet hardware devices that use only a remote control. 

Built-in Webex interoperability will now be available across all supported Google Meet hardware devices that have not yet reached their auto-update expiration date. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users 


Why it’s important 

We hope this update makes it even easier for Google Workspace customers and their users to connect and collaborate with people outside the Google Meet ecosystem. 


Additional details 

There is no additional cost associated with this new built-in Webex interoperability feature on supported devices. 

Please note that core video conferencing features are supported. Some advanced features, such as polls, breakout rooms, and dual-screen support, may not be available when using Meet hardware to join Webex calls. 

For interoperability needs beyond Cisco Webex, we recommend Pexip. Pexip enables users to join Meet calls from a range of third-party video conferencing hardware, including older devices that may not support built-in interoperability. Use this Help Center article to learn more about Pexip. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: Webex interop on Google Meet hardware will be available on devices by default and can be disabled at the OU level at Devices > Google Meet hardware > Settings > Device Settings. 
  • End users: When enabled by your admin, you can join a Webex meeting from a Google Meet hardware device by: 
    • Joining an ad-hoc call by selecting Join a meeting using your remote control and then selecting Webex from the dropdown options 
    • Joining a scheduled call by adding a room to an event with Webex meeting details. 
      • Note: Calendar events that originate outside of Google Calendar must be duplicated and populated with room details manually. 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about Meet interoperability. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Available for all supported Google Meet hardware devices that have not yet reached their auto-update expiration date.

Resources: 

Background noise reduction now available for Google Meet Hardware devices

What’s changing 

We’re bringing our software-based noise cancellation capability to the following Google Meet hardware devices: 
Use this YouTube video to learn more about noise cancellation in Google Meet. 


Additionally, we’ve added a new admin control which allows you to specify whether noise cancellation is on or off at the beginning of each call. See below for more information and availability. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users 


Why it’s important 

To help limit distractions in your video call, Google Meet devices can remove background noises such as typing, closing a door, or the sounds of a nearby construction site. Noise cancellation helps make calls more productive by reducing distractions that can divert attention away from the content of the meeting. 


Additional details 

  • Noise cancellation is not available for Series One Meet Compute Systems. Series One Meet Compute Systems will only use "True Voice" for noise cancellation, which requires a Series One Smart Audio Bar or Series One Mic Pod. 
  • The admin setting for managing noise cancellation will not change the behavior for SeriesOne devices at the time of this launch. This will be implemented in the coming weeks — we will provide an update on the Workspace Updates Blog at that time. 

Getting started 


Admin console per-device setting for controlling noise cancellation for each call




On-device setting for controlling noise cancellation while on a call





Rollout pace 



Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Teaching & Learning, Education Standard and Education Plus customers, as well as G Suite Business and Basic customers 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Configure Chromebase for Meetings display to automatically turn off when not in use

Quick summary 

Admins can now configure Chromebase for Meetings in their fleet to automatically turn off the display when not in use. We’ve heard from our customers that reducing power consumption is increasingly important — we hope this helps customers achieve their sustainability goals or comply with local energy efficiency requirements. 




Getting started 

  • Admins: This feature will respect the current power saving setting for Chromebase for Meetings devices, and can be changed at the organizational unit level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing power-saving settings. 
  • End users: No action required — to wake a device, simply tap on the screen. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers with Google Meet hardware devices 

Resources 

View bandwidth availability and usage during meetings via the Meet quality tool

What’s changing 

Admins can now use the Meet quality tool to view inbound and outbound bandwidth information—both used and available—for their users. Surfacing this information helps admins visualize participants bandwidth compared to the quality of a call, making it easier for them to determine where a bandwidth bottleneck could be causing low quality. 


Admins can use the graphs to view sent and received bandwidth, used bandwidth, and the bandwidth availability over time.



Hovering over a data point surfaces numerical readouts and exact timestamps. 


Who’s impacted


Admins


Why it’s important

Knowing which bitrates are available or being used for specific endpoints is critical data when performing troubleshooting or working to improve call quality in your domain. Previously, this data was only available as an average across entire calls, which can make it difficult to narrow down problems during specific points in time. 


We hope by surfacing this detailed information, Admins can easily troubleshoot or improve call quality for their users.


Getting started


  • Admins: This feature will be available by default. From the Admin console, navigate to Apps > Google Workspace > Google Meet > Meet quality tool. Alternatively, you can search for a meeting code, organizer, or participant from the search bar to access the Meet quality tool. Visit the Help Center to learn more about tracking meeting quality and statistics.
  • End users: There is no end user impact.


Rollout pace

  • This feature is currently available

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources


Roadmap


Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – February 22, 2022

New updates 

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time (if not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete), and available to all Google Workspace and legacy G Suite customers. 



Japanese grammar suggestions for Google Docs 
You'll now see grammar suggestions as you type in Japanese in Docs. Grammar suggestions can help you write faster and more accurately. | Learn more.



Previous announcements 

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details. 



Manage overdue tasks in Google Calendar You can now easily see and manage your overdue tasks in Google Calendar. 
If you have uncompleted tasks that were due in the past 30 days, you will have an all day entry that will tell you how many tasks are pending from that timeframe. | Learn more. 



Participate in Google Meet polls and Q&As on Chromebase for meetings 
You can now participate in Google Meet polls and Q&As when joining from a Chromebase for meetings all-in-one touchscreen device. | Learn more.



The future of Currents and the next generation of collaboration in Spaces 
With Spaces now available, starting in 2023 we are planning to wind down Google Currents and bring remaining content and communities over to the new Spaces experience. | Learn more here and here. 



Google Voice calls between many European numbers are now included in Google Voice licenses
Beginning February 8, 2022, calls from European Google Voice numbers to mobile and landline numbers in many European countries will be included with the cost of the Google Voice license. | Learn more. 



For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).