Tag Archives: Google Meet

Use Google Assistant on more devices

Quick launch summary 

You can now use Google Assistant with smart displays and speakers, such as the Nest Hub Max. We previously announced that access to Google Workspace services from Google Assistant is generally available on users’ personal devices. 

You can access Google Workspace services, such as Google Meet or Calendar, using the Google Assistant on more devices, such as the Nest Hub Max.



Admins will need to enable Search and Assistant for these devices in order to ensure users can access Google Workspace data through Assistant. If Admins allow for the home devices, they can also specify if the device will require Voice Match or Face Match to authenticate. 

Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

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

Resources 

Replace your background in Google Meet, now on iOS

What’s changing 

You can now blur or replace your background with an image in Google Meet on iOS. You can choose from Google’s hand-picked images, which include office spaces, landscapes, and abstract backgrounds, or use your own image. 



Who’s impacted 

End users 



Why you’d use it 

Custom backgrounds can help you show more of your personality, as well as help hide your surroundings. Additional details Virtual backgrounds work on most recent mobile devices. Check the device compatibility page for more information. 



Getting started 

  • Admins: This feature is controllable with an admin setting. Check the Help Center or the blog post for more information controlling whether users can change their backgrounds in Meet. 
  • End users: This feature is OFF by default. Visit our Help Center to learn more about how to change your background on Google Meet. 

When using Google Meet on iOS, you can now choose your own custom background to hide your surroundings.



Rollout pace 

  • The feature is available now to all users. 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers, and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 


Roadmap 

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – July 2, 2021

New updates 

Spelling autocorrect is now available when you write comments in Sheets, Slides, and Drawings 
Autocorrect helps you compose documents quickly and with confidence. Misspelled words will automatically be corrected while typing and denoted with a grey dashed underline. This feature is already available in Docs.


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. 


Google Chat will automatically suggest group chats based on your Google Calendar 
We previously announced that Google Chat will automatically suggest 1:1 chats based on your meetings in Google Calendar. Now, you’ll also get suggestions for group chats when you’re meeting with multiple people. | Learn more. 



Expanding Google Meet visual refresh to Meet hardware portfolio 
We’re expanding the rollout of the refreshed Google Meet web experience to Meet hardware devices. Users joining Meet calls with a Chromebase for meetings all-in-one touchscreen device will notice improvements for video feeds, the viewing and presenting experience, and the bottom bar. | Learn more. 



Admins can view more information about apps in the Google Workspace Marketplace before deploying to their users 
In the Google Workspace Marketplace, you’ll now see more information about apps available in the Marketplace. Specifically, you’ll see the following information regarding the app developer, their privacy policy, terms of service, app permissions, and more. | Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers only. | Learn more. 



Enhancing live streams in Google Meet with captions and cross-domain live streams 
We’re improving live streams for Google Meet with two new features: cross-domain livestreams and captions in live streams.| Available to Google Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more.



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

Enhancing live streams in Google Meet with captions and cross-domain live streams

What’s changing

We’re improving live streams for Google Meet with two new features:

  • Cross-domain live streams. Previously, only guests in your organization could view a live stream. Now, admins can designate trusted Google Workspace domains for Google Meet live streams. Once added, you can also invite users in those trusted domains to view live streams hosted by your organization.
  • Captions in live streams. Now, a user has the option of enabling captions when starting a live stream. At launch, captions for live streams will be available in English, German, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Note that captions are already available for Google Meet video calls.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users


Why it matters

Many companies have important meetings that require delivering a message to large groups of people, like a company-wide all-hands or onboarding training. With live streaming for Google Meet, up to 100,000 users (or 10,000 in some editions) can watch the meeting from the web or their mobile device.

Cross-domain live streams allows you to extend the viewership of the live streams not only to the guests within your organization, but also to guests in another trusted Workspace domain.
Captions in live streams can help make meetings more accessible for deaf and hard-of-hearing users, and can help other users who have a preference for reading text rather than listening get more out of the meeting.


Captions enable users to read what’s being said in the live stream


Getting started

  • Admins:
    • Cross-domain live-stream support: Use our Help Center content to learn how to add trusted domains for live streaming in Google Meet.
      • Note that you can add any Workspace domain to the trusted domain list, but we recommend that you only add domains that you own (such as subsidiary companies or schools in your school district), as adding domains can potentially give access to livestreams to anyone who has an account in those trusted domains.


Rollout pace

Cross-domain live streams

Captions in live streams

Availability

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

Resources

Expanding Google Meet visual refresh to Meet hardware portfolio

What’s changing

We’re expanding the rollout of the refreshed Google Meet web experience to Meet hardware devices. Users joining Meet calls with a Chromebase for meetings all-in-one touchscreen device will notice improvements for video feeds, the viewing and presenting experience, and the bottom bar:

Customize how you appear in a meeting
  • Tapping over your video feed allows you to select between a tile in the grid or a floating picture. You can also reposition or hide it to help you concentrate on the call.
  • Your self-view will appear in the bottom right of the grid, allowing you to focus on the video feeds at eye-level.

Improved viewing and presenting experience
  • You can unpin the content others share, allowing you to see more and larger video feeds.
  • Participant names will always be visible regardless of meeting size.

Streamlined bottom bar
  • We’ve moved the meeting dial-in codes, attachments, the participants list, chat, and other activities to the bottom right to create more space to view people and content.
  • Volume and other controls are consolidated in one place for easy access.
  • The leave call button has been moved away from the microphone and camera buttons to help prevent accidental call hang-ups.
  • The bottom bar is always visible, but it will not cover captions and bottom video feeds.

Additional improvements include
  • Now, when someone is speaking, their tile will be outlined in blue, making it easier to identify who is speaking, especially in larger meetings.
  • Mute indicators are more subdued, helping to reduce visual distraction.
  • When there are more participants than can be shown on the grid, a tile is added so you always remember who’s on the call.


Improved viewing experience and streamlined bottom bar on Chromebase for Meetings



Improved presenting experience on Chromebase for Meetings


Visual refresh for Google Meet hardware kits

To deliver a consistent experience for Google Meet, you’ll notice rounded corners on tiles, Google Sans font throughout, and the new color scheme on TV displays and touch controllers across all Google Meet hardware kits. Note that for hardware kits, self view is always shown in the upper right corner and currently can't be removed or resized.



Visual refresh for Google Meet hardware kit displays




Visual refresh for Google Meet hardware touch controllers


Who’s impacted

End users


Why you’d use it

These changes will bring a consistent experience for Google Meet no matter where or how you join a meeting. Additionally, we hope features such as the re-organized bottom bar, grid layouts, speaking indicators, and more make it easier to engage, share information, and collaborate with your meeting participants.


Additional details

In some cases, your self-view could appear with gray bars at the top and bottom to show you everything your camera sees. Other participants might see a cropped version of your video feed.

Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: There is no end user action required, these improvements will be available by default on Meet hardware devices.

Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers using Meet hardware devices.

Resources

Improvements to Hand Raise in Google Meet, including automatic hand lowering, better notifications, and more

Quick launch summary

We’re improving the hand raise feature in Meet so that it is easier to notice and address raised hands. Specifically, you may notice:
  • An updated and improved visual icon and animation on the video tile
  • The tiles of people with raised hands may be moved to be more visible in the video grid
  • An audio notification for all participants when the first raised hand is raised
  • A clickable notification which shows the number of raised hands and which links to an ordered queue of all participants with raised hands
  • That a participant’s hand will be automatically lowered after they speak


The new and improved visual icon and animation when someone raises their hand

Getting started

  • Admins: This feature will be on by default. There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: This feature will be on by default. There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about hand raising in Google Meet.

Rollout pace

  • Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 16, 2021.
  • Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 30, 2021.

Availability

  • Available in meetings organized by users with Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Business customers
  • Not available in meetings organized by users with Google Workspace Business Starter, as well as G Suite Basic customers. Not available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

TLS support for Google Meet

Quick launch summary

We’re adding a new network option to help you ensure higher quality video meetings with Google Meet. Now, in addition to the range of official, fixed IP addresses in Google Workspace domains and non-Google Workspace users, Google Meet supports TLS over port 443.

Some network setups do not work with SRTP over 443 which was preventing Meet calls from connecting. Meet now encapsulates SRTP in TLS which increases overall compatibility. This change will initially be available on the web, and will be available for mobile soon. We’ll announce it on the Google Workspace Updates blog when it’s available.

Getting started

  • Admins: If your or partner organization is already using Meet today no changes are required and this change will have no impact. If you or your partner organisation uses DPI technology on port 443, make sure to add the corresponding user SNIs to the allowlist:
    • Google Workspace admins: Meet traffic over TLS will use the same fixed IP range dedicated for Google Meet in Google Workspace domains.
    • Non-Google Workspace admins: Meet traffic over TLS will use the fixed IP range dedicated for non-Google Workspace users from July onward and will use temporary IP range from June to July 30th. See the Help Center article for additional information.
  • End users: No end-user impact.

Rollout pace


Availability

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

Resources

TLS support for Google Meet

Quick launch summary

We’re adding a new network option to help you ensure higher quality video meetings with Google Meet. Now, in addition to the range of official, fixed IP addresses in Google Workspace domains and non-Google Workspace users, Google Meet supports TLS over port 443.

Some network setups do not work with SRTP over 443 which was preventing Meet calls from connecting. Meet now encapsulates SRTP in TLS which increases overall compatibility. This change will initially be available on the web, and will be available for mobile soon. We’ll announce it on the Google Workspace Updates blog when it’s available.

Getting started

  • Admins: If your or partner organization is already using Meet today no changes are required and this change will have no impact. If you or your partner organisation uses DPI technology on port 443, make sure to add the corresponding user SNIs to the allowlist:
    • Google Workspace admins: Meet traffic over TLS will use the same fixed IP range dedicated for Google Meet in Google Workspace domains.
    • Non-Google Workspace admins: Meet traffic over TLS will use the fixed IP range dedicated for non-Google Workspace users from July onward and will use temporary IP range from June to July 30th. See the Help Center article for additional information.
  • End users: No end-user impact.

Rollout pace


Availability

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

Resources

New admin settings to control who can join your organization’s Google Meet calls, and which calls your users can join

What’s changing 

We’re adding new settings in the Admin console that allow admins to set policies for who can join video calls in their organization, and whether users from their organization can join video calls from other organizations. 


Important note: There will be no changes to your current Google Meet experience with this launch of these new settings — your experience will only change if your admin changes the current setting. 
  • Admins now have three settings to control which types of meetings users from their organization can join: Meetings created by someone in your organization 
  • Meetings created by any other Google Workspace customer 
  • All meetings, including meetings created with personal Google accounts


Background: By default, K-12 Google Workspace for Education users can attend meetings organized by any other Google Workspace user. For example, a K-12 Google Workspace for Education user could join an extracurricular meeting hosted by another school’s organization. This also means that by default, K-12 Google Workspace for Education users cannot join meetings organized by a personal Google Account. (Higher education users’ default is to be able to join any meetings, including those created with personal Google accounts.) For all other (non Edu) Google Workspace users the default is set to allow users to attend any meeting, including those created with personal Google accounts.


In addition, Admins now also have three options to control who can join meetings created by users in their organization:
  • Only users from your organization or users dialing in using a phone
  • Users signed in with a Google account or dialing in using a phone
  • All users, including those not signed in with a Google account


For Google Workspace for Education users, the default is set to allow only users signed into a Google account or dialing in using a phone. This means that by default, signed-out users cannot join Education meetings. For Education customers who have already manually chosen to allow signed-out users to join their meetings, their default setting will be all users, including those not signed in with a personal Google account.



All other Google Workspace users: the default is set to allow all users,  including those not signed in with a personal Google account, to join a meeting.


Who’s impacted


Admins and end users

Why it’s important


Giving admins the ability to control what meetings their users can join with their Google Workspace accounts and who can join their users meetings will help ensure more secure meetings. It will also facilitate things like student-to-student connections across districts, professional development opportunities for educators, and external speakers visiting a class. 

Getting started


  • Admins: There will be no changes to meeting experiences in your organization unless you update these settings. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Google Meet settings for admins.
    • Note: The admin settings cannot be overridden by meeting organizers. 
  • End users: There is no end user action required. Visit the Help Center to learn more about joining a meeting.

Rollout pace


Availability


  • Available to all Google Workspace and Google Workspace for Education customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers.
  • Users with personal Google Accounts may be impacted by these settings. Depending on the Admin settings, they may not be able to join meetings organized by Google Workspace users and vice versa. 

Resources


New admin settings to control who can join your organization’s Google Meet calls, and which calls your users can join

What’s changing 

We’re adding new settings in the Admin console that allow admins to set policies for who can join video calls in their organization, and whether users from their organization can join video calls from other organizations. 


Important note: There will be no changes to your current Google Meet experience with this launch of these new settings — your experience will only change if your admin changes the current setting. 
  • Admins now have three settings to control which types of meetings users from their organization can join: Meetings created by someone in your organization 
  • Meetings created by any other Google Workspace customer 
  • All meetings, including meetings created with personal Google accounts


Background: By default, K-12 Google Workspace for Education users can attend meetings organized by any other Google Workspace user. For example, a K-12 Google Workspace for Education user could join an extracurricular meeting hosted by another school’s organization. This also means that by default, K-12 Google Workspace for Education users cannot join meetings organized by a personal Google Account. (Higher education users’ default is to be able to join any meetings, including those created with personal Google accounts.) For all other (non Edu) Google Workspace users the default is set to allow users to attend any meeting, including those created with personal Google accounts.


In addition, Admins now also have three options to control who can join meetings created by users in their organization:
  • Only users from your organization or users dialing in using a phone
  • Users signed in with a Google account or dialing in using a phone
  • All users, including those not signed in with a Google account


For Google Workspace for Education users, the default is set to allow only users signed into a Google account or dialing in using a phone. This means that by default, signed-out users cannot join Education meetings. For Education customers who have already manually chosen to allow signed-out users to join their meetings, their default setting will be all users, including those not signed in with a personal Google account.



All other Google Workspace users: the default is set to allow all users,  including those not signed in with a personal Google account, to join a meeting.


Who’s impacted


Admins and end users

Why it’s important


Giving admins the ability to control what meetings their users can join with their Google Workspace accounts and who can join their users meetings will help ensure more secure meetings. It will also facilitate things like student-to-student connections across districts, professional development opportunities for educators, and external speakers visiting a class. 

Getting started


  • Admins: There will be no changes to meeting experiences in your organization unless you update these settings. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Google Meet settings for admins.
    • Note: The admin settings cannot be overridden by meeting organizers. 
  • End users: There is no end user action required. Visit the Help Center to learn more about joining a meeting.

Rollout pace


Availability


  • Available to all Google Workspace and Google Workspace for Education customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers.
  • Users with personal Google Accounts may be impacted by these settings. Depending on the Admin settings, they may not be able to join meetings organized by Google Workspace users and vice versa. 

Resources