Google Meet is the video conferencing app built into every Google Account, making it available and free for anyone, whether a businessperson or just getting together with friends.
Its features make it an excellent choice for meetings of all sizes, including real-time captioning and recording capabilities as well as privacy and security controls.
Features
Google Meet is a video-conferencing app available for desktops, phones and tablets that is free to use with devices running Android or iOS operating systems. Furthermore, you can purchase hardware dedicated to using Google Meet in conference rooms.
The app allows users to share either their entire screen or a single Chrome tab with other participants in a call, making this feature ideal for collaborative documents and presentations. Users can also instant message other attendees during meetings – this feature may especially come in handy for teachers wanting to ensure that all students in their class are paying attention!
Google Meet was updated with new features to make calls more efficient, such as the ability to pin participants at the top of a chat to ensure they remain focused throughout a meeting, as well as an innovative Q&A feature enabling meeting attendees to ask questions without interrupting dialogue.
The app also boasts various other features designed to improve user experience, such as automatically transcribing meetings into documents that can be saved directly into an organizer’s Google Drive folder labeled “Meet recordings.” However, this feature is exclusive to G Suite customers and optional.
Additionally, Google Meet offers users who access it via mobile phone or tablet an option to have a blurry background – an invaluable feature for teachers as it can conceal messy backgrounds and reduce distractions for class discussions. Google also recently unveiled a feature enabling meeting attendees to create breakout rooms — private spaces designed for specific discussions within meetings.
Google recently expanded their capability of meeting attendance by offering attendees from any device a way to join meetings without needing a Google Account, something previously only possible with G Suite Basic plan customers and above. Furthermore, the company introduced live streaming capability allowing businesses and schools to broadcast meetings to up to 100,000 viewers within their domain and Google Meet will now automatically adjust for low bandwidth connections making mobile use much simpler for meeting participants.
Pricing
Google Meet is one of the premier video conferencing software tools, providing users with numerous advantages. Specifically designed to enhance communication among colleagues and clients alike, this tool comes in various plans which offer unique sets of features – it is important that you know what each one offers so that you can select one which best meets your needs.
One of the primary advantages of Google Meet is its no-download nature; participants can join meetings using any modern web browser – making mobile device use much simpler. Google Meet is also ideal for businesses that need to hold conference calls with up to 100 participants at one time.
Google Meet costs depend on which plan you select; there is both a free version that enables 60-minute meetings as well as paid plans with longer meeting duration and more advanced features, starting from $10 per active user per month. In addition, hardware bundles such as cameras, microphones and virtual assistant displays may also be purchased to customize your Google Meet experience further.
Zoom has long been considered an alternative to Google Meet. While it offers similar features – including an interactive whiteboard integrated within the app itself – Zoom is more comprehensive in its offerings, including video recording and live streaming features.
Zoom stands apart from Google by being dedicated to data privacy and not selling or using customer information for advertising. Furthermore, Zoom’s strict access controls require employees to provide valid business justification before accessing its servers; furthermore customers have control of where their information will be stored geographically.
Google Meet and Zoom offer various plans that can be tailored to fit the unique requirements of your organization’s meeting room space, making the decision simple for you based on budget-friendliness, unique features or integration with existing systems.
Security and privacy
Google Meet is built upon the same high security and privacy standards found across Google Cloud products, providing a strong base level of protection that includes end-to-end encryption, GDPR compliance and more. In addition, regular independent audits of its Cloud products take place to make sure they’re meeting high privacy and security standards.
Google Meet ensures all meetings held within it are completely encrypted end-to-end, meaning only participants have access to meeting data. This protects against unwelcome listening in on conversations and hijacking of meetings, malware and spoofing protection, making Google Meet one of the safest video conference tools on the market.
Client-side encryption, which encrypts files before being sent to Google servers, provides another layer of protection against eavesdropping, man-in-the-middle attacks and network vulnerabilities. TLS supports also provide further layered protection – making it impossible for anyone else to intercept and decrypt your data without being detected by TLS encryptors.
As part of its infrastructure and built-in protections, Google Meet is designed to be highly scalable; this was demonstrated during the coronavirus pandemic when users worldwide turned to Google Meet as full-time teleworking and collaboration software despite experiencing massive increases in usage compared to competing services that experienced outages due to increased demands.
Google meets the needs of companies of all sizes and budgets by offering multiple plans – free plans, paid plans and business-grade plans – each one boasting different features such as unlimited meetings or ad-free experiences.
Though Google Meet offers many robust security measures, it’s essential to remember that no tool can completely withstand cyberattacks. Therefore, best practices and staying informed on new threats must always be adhered to – something such as refraining from sharing meeting links on public platforms like social media is paramount here; additionally, educate participants on privacy settings and safe meeting practices as much as possible.
Apps
Google Meet is an innovative video conferencing program with many uses and integrations, from desktop computers to mobile phones and beyond. Utilizing wi-fi, this video conferencing program supports one-on-one meetings lasting 24 hours at once as well as group calls lasting 60 minutes; additionally Google offers hardware options designed to enhance this experience.
Meet does not provide an all-in-one platform like other UCaaS solutions like RingCentral or Dialpad do; while it does offer some integrations, these tend to be less extensive. However, Meet supports various Google tools including G Suite and Hangouts to enable easy collaboration among employees.
Google Meet is designed for use across a range of devices, making it convenient and user-friendly for desktops, laptops, tablets and phones alike. Users can sign in via their Google account or with a shared link – and Google Meet also integrates seamlessly with productivity tools, training systems and applicant tracking programs for added efficiency and applicant tracking purposes.
With a paid service plan, recording meetings and streaming live to YouTube are possible – an invaluable feature for large businesses and enterprises alike. Furthermore, multiple cameras in one room add to its usefulness; blurring or replacing background images protects meeting participants’ privacy further still.
At meetings, hosts can use interactivity features to encourage participation by participants. People may raise their hands to ask questions or react using available emojis. Additionally, this app offers a whiteboard which can be used to share content; however it should be noted that Google is gradually phase out its native whiteboards – however third-party whiteboards remain compatible with its products.
Setup of Google Meet calls from within Google Drive is simple. Chat and Meetings apps are also integrated with this tool, enabling teams to seamlessly switch between them for various uses and easily share meeting recordings and notes quickly – saving both time and reducing errors. Plus, with Zapier integration support of over 200 applications, Google Meet is capable of automating tasks like notifying team members when new recordings or leads arrive, or scheduling calls as scheduled with ease.
