What are Google Meet and Chat services and how do they work?

This page was translated using AI and machine learning before being reviewed by a human editor in your native language.

(Pocket-lint) – Businesses and individuals are increasingly turning to virtual meeting and chat services, especially with the growing popularity of working from home. Google has its own tools called Google Meet and Google Chat.

They used to be part of Google Hangouts and more recently Meet took over all the functionality of Google Duo and the two services are combined in the new Google Meet app.

The old Google Meet app still exists, but it’s now called Google Meet (original) and doesn’t have all the new features. It is expected that this app will be deprecated at some point in the future.

Here’s everything you need to know about Google Chat and Meet.

What are Google Meet and Google Chat?

These applications are communication services that allow text, voice or video chats, one-on-one or in groups.

They’re integrated with Gmail, YouTube, and Google Voice, and there are apps for iOS, Android, and the web. It is basically a useful and profitable collaboration platform for the common people as well as for businesses.

Chat is a messaging app, probably closest to Slack in how it works, but it’s currently only available to Google Workplace users and lets you share documents, sheets, and slides with your colleagues.

Google Meet is the consumer video calling app for up to 100 participants. It therefore acts as a rival to Zoom and will be of great interest to regular users outside of businesses.

Google Meet is for group calls and meetings

Google describes Meet as “a video meeting experience whose goal is to make meetings easier to get into.” The company wanted to improve Hangouts to make it easier and faster to launch and join video conferences.

Google Meet has a very light and fast interface and allows you to easily manage meetings of up to 500 people. Originally, hosting meetings required a G Suite account, but now Google is making it available to everyone, with varying levels of functionality. You can find it at meet.google.com and it works in the browser if you’re using a PC.

Google Chat is for chat communication around teams and projects

Chat is “a smart and secure communication tool designed for teams. From direct messages to team chat rooms, Chat makes team communication easy and efficient,” says Google. The idea behind it is that teams working on a project should be able to discuss tasks, share work, and more – it’s more like Slack, really.

Chat offers virtual rooms, chat conversations, and integration with other Google products like Drive. Again, the interface is simple and light, so quick to use, and you can find it at chat.google.com – although Chat is only available to G Suite users.

How does Google Meet work?

Videoconferences

To start your meetings, all you need to do is share a link. There won’t be any accounts, plugins, downloads, or hassles if you’re already part of the Google ecosystem and signed into a browser like Chrome. People can click a link from Google Calendar, an email invitation, or an ad hoc share. And whether you’re connecting from a conference room, your laptop, or a dedicated mobile app, all it takes is a few clicks and you’re there.

Presentations

Meet features native full-screen presentations, making it easy to showcase your team’s projects. Sharing options aren’t as dynamic as Zoom’s, but it’s possible to share a single Chrome tab.

G Suite integration

G Suite is Google’s set of cloud services that can give your business or school a new way to work together online. You get a domain name and access to Gmail, Calendar, Drive, and other G Suite services like Meet. For G Suite Enterprise customers, each meeting has a dedicated phone number.

Duo Features

With the Google Duo merger, Meet took over all the features of Duo. This means you can use Google Meet in the same way as Apple’s FaceTime, by calling someone directly and using their phone number, without having to send links or calendar invites.

For current Duo and Meet users, your history, contacts, and messages remain available in the new version, making the transition as easy as possible.

How does the Google Duo merger affect Google Meet users?

For now, current Meet users can continue to use the Google Meet app, although they may notice that its name has changed to Google Meet (original).

At some point, however, it’s likely that Google will encourage users to switch to the new Google Meet app, which used to be Google Duo. The new app has all the additional features brought by the merger, while the original app will likely remain unchanged.

How does Google Chat work?

Virtual rooms (channels)

The chat includes virtual rooms dedicated to each project of your team, with conversation threads, so that your team can discuss and follow the progress of the discussion.

As you’d expect, it’s also seamlessly integrated with G Suite, allowing you to share content from Drive and Docs, or view things like photos and videos directly from within. a conversation. There is also a filterable search that allows you to search through old discussions.

Third-party integrations

Chat is also a platform, which means you can expect third-party integrations in the form of bots, which will allow your teams to do more in their conversation. The platform has already partnered with companies like Asana, Box, Prosperworks, and Zendesk.

Written by Maggie Tillman and Dan Grabham. Edited by Luke Baker.