The Google Duo and Meet merger officially begins with the latest Duo update

We’ve known that for a long time Google plans further Merging Google Duo and Google Meet, and the company announced those plans a few weeks ago. Now the merger is finally happening reports XDA-Developers, and it’s rolling out a new Google Duo update for Android and iOS that finally gets everything going.

The merger of Google Duo and Meet is finally beginning

Google previously released a Google Duo update that introduced meeting features to the app. Now, a new update is coming to Google Duo on Android and iOS, rolling out gradually. This new update replaces the Duo to Meet app icon and logo. Additionally, the update introduces a new notification that says “Duo has been updated to Meet”. Of course, the change should be reflected everywhere too — Google updated the Duo branding on the web version, now replacing it with the Meet icon and name.

The merger is expected to be completed by September. After that, the updated Google Meet app (which would have been the previous duo) with video calling and meeting capabilities will be widely available on Android and iOS.

Additionally, Google plans to redirect the duo.google.com link to meet.google.com/calling over the next few months.

On the other hand, the legacy Google Meet app will remain (probably for a while) an app with meeting capabilities but without Duo’s video calls. Google Meet is expected to be phased out after Duo’s upgrade is complete.

The update to Google Duo will now begin gradually, which means that a small number of users will receive it first, followed by a broader rollout.

The merger of Google Meet and Duo creates a single platform for video calling and meetings

Google officially announced the big change at the beginning of June. The merger of the two apps aims to have a single Google platform responsible for video calls and meetings, and it will go under the Google Meet name. Let’s look at a little more detail about what this merger means.

First of all, Google Meet, as it is currently, is a video platform primarily geared towards video calls with many people (mainly work-related meetings). On the other hand, Duo was a free video chat app and has a lot in common with Apple’s FaceTime, which is basically aimed at one-on-one video chats rather than large conferences.

The merging of the two apps comes with an upgrade to Duo, which becomes Meet. The current Meet will probably be called “Meet Original”. This new meet (the former duo) is becoming the standard. Duo will get some new features as a result.

Here’s what you can do once Duo is fully updated with Meet features. You can customize virtual backgrounds in calls and meetings, schedule meetings, use in-meeting chat, share content live during the meeting, and get real-time closed captioning for better accessibility. In addition, the size of video calls will be increased from the current 32 to 100 participants.

Last but not least, you get integration with other Google tools. These tools include Gmail, Google Calendar, Assistant, Messages, and others.

During the pandemic, Google Meet’s popularity soared as many people started using it for conferencing and work-related video calls and meetings. Because of this growth, the platform became the obvious choice for Google to focus on video and voice options.

Google previously stated, “As part of our mission to create a connected experience for all users, we’re excited to bring our video calling and meeting technologies together into a single, powerful and easy-to-use solution.”