Google’s own video conference app, Google Meet is now open to all users around the world, confirmed today by the search engine giant. While the Meet was initially introduced as a premium app for paid subscribers, the app is eventually rolling out the free version, taking into account the increasing demand for video calling services around the globe due to lockdowns by many governments in order to counter the new outbreak.
Google Meet was previously available only to paying G Suite customers with plans beginning at Rs 125 customers a month, which was a paid service. However, now, Meet will be available on the web and via smartphone iOS or Android devices for anyone free of charge. Google lets 100 people in one video call per session.
“Today, we’re making Google Meet, our premium video conferencing product, free for everyone, with availability rolling out over the coming weeks,” Javier Soltero, Vice President, and GM, G Suite, said in a blog post.
The post also said that the free version of the app will be introduced for all users at the beginning of May, and any feature previously available to paid users will be open to everyone.
Soltero further explained, “It’s important that everyone who uses Meet has a secure and reliable experience from the start, so beginning next week, we’ll be gradually expanding its availability to more and more people over the following weeks.”
Meet calls are transferred through servers of Google so that it can automatically caption, troubleshoot, and fulfill legal instructions to exchange user information. However, calls from consumers won’t be stored. Businesses and schools would have exclusive access and flexible tools for recording meetings.
Although Meet will cut free calls after an hour from October when Messenger and Skype have no time limits and zoom consumers have a 40-minute restriction. Meet calls are limited to only one host and 100 participants.