Google Duo and Meet will soon be one app for video calling

Google Duo video conferencing app will soon be integrated into the main Google Meet video conferencing app. As a result, Google will offer a single video calling service for both personal and business users.

Google will integrate the present Google Meet functionality to Duo before the app is rebranded. Users of Duo will be able to arrange meetings in advance, change virtual backgrounds, use in-meeting chat, and receive real-time closed captioning, among other features.

On the other hand, Google Duo was released in 2016 (at the same time as the unsuccessful Allo app). It made calling a little easier because calls could be made straight to people’s phone numbers. In that regard, Duo resembles Apple’s FaceTime.

“All of Google Meet’s features,” such as scheduled meetings, in-meeting chat, content sharing, real-time closed captions, and a larger call size limit, will be added to the Duo app in the coming weeks, along with Meet’s platform and service interfaces with other Google products.

In a blog post, Google VP Javier Soltero stated, “This integrated experience will give consumers with a single option for both video calling and meetings with people across their lives.”

With this adjustment, Google isn’t “killing” Duo, but the functionality that were previously split between two applications will eventually be combined into one. For a corporation that has been chastised for duplicating efforts and abandoning projects on the spur of the moment, the decision to combine the two so neatly and cleanly could signal a shift in policy.