Google Duo and Meet merger starts with the latest update: What’s changing and more – Times of India

Image courtesy: 9to5Google

Google recently announced that it is merging its two videos calling apps — Google Duo and Google Meet. The company confirmed that it will be merging the two apps into a single video calling platform called Google Meet. Now a new online report reveals that some of the users have started seeing these new changes.
According to a report by 9to5Google, a small group of users have started witnessing the merger of Google Duo and Google Meet with the latest version of the Google Duo app on Android.
The publication has also shared some screenshots highlighting the beginning of this transition. Users with the latest app version 169.0.459621665 are able to notice the new change. “Your Duo app will become Meet, with a new name and icon, and more features like background effects”, reads a prompt in the updated app.
With the latest update users can now “Create a new meeting” and “Schedule in Google Calendar” that originated from Google Meet after tapping on the Floating Action Button. Along with this a pop-up messaging in the app also shows the updated privacy terms which highlights that the app will be switching from using end-to-end encryption to cloud encryption. The tech giant claims that this change will allow the company to add more features like chat and live-caption to the app. The users whom you have blocked on Duo will not be transferred to Meet.
Google has also confirmed that if you use Google Duo or Meet at no cost today, you don’t need to pay for the new experience. Also the Google Duo conversation history, contacts, and messages will remain saved. Google launched its video calling app — Google Duo in 2016 along with its instant messaging app Allo.