Google is combining Meet and Duo into a single app for voice and video calls

Image: Google

The Duo and Meet video-calling apps will be combined into a single platform. Soon, there will be only one calling app users need for everything in their lives, and that is the one that is called Google Meet.

It is hoped that by bringing them together, it can solve some of the problems with modern communication tools. Our digital lives are filled with a million different chat apps, each with its own rules and norms and contact list. It is important and powerful to be able to reach you that way.

The idea of reachability has been preached by Soltero for most of his tenure at the company. Adding everything to everything has made some of the services more complicated. You can start a meeting anywhere. Do you really want to? Streamlining your communication choices is a good idea.

Meet has become a powerful platform for meetings and group chats over the last couple of years, while Duo has remained more of a messaging app. The best of both worlds will be offered when all of Duo's features are brought to Meet.

Duo is being killed, but it's not right to say that. The app, which was originally launched in 2016 as an easy way to make one-to-one video calls, does a number of useful things. You can call someone directly, including with their phone number, instead of relying on sending links or hitting the Meet button in your Calendar invite. Duo has always been more like a video chat than a phone call. Allo was launched at the same time as Duo. Allo didn't turn out great.

Image: Google

Duo's mobile app is the default as the two services become one. Soon, the Duo app will get an update that brings an onslaught of Meet features into the platform, and later this year, the Duo app will be renamed. The Meet app will be called Meet Original, and eventually deprecated.

The Duo mobile app had a lot of sophistication, according to the director of product for the company. In both cases, the idea is 100% of the function.

This is another attempt from the internet giant to unify some of its services, making them more coherent and cohesive. As Meet has grown during the Pandemic, it became the obvious place for Google to concentrate its voice and video efforts. He is hopeful that the Meet brand can come to mean more than just a meeting.

Getting this right will be a challenge. It has to get a lot of little things right if it wants to build a platform for audio and video calls. Should every single device and browser tab be signed into ring when you get a call? It is getting better at recognizing which device you are actually using and sending calls and notifications to that one. Is it possible to get calls on your personal and work device at the same time? Soltero said he was leading the charge to figure it out.

If Meet can integrate without being annoying or complicated, it could become a meaningful competitor to both of those services.