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A fresh update rolling out on the server-side for the web version of Google Meet is bringing some dramatic changes to how muting works and more. That’s based on recent reports detailing the changes.
These updates follow previous alterations, of course, including the merging of Google’s top-rated Duo video chat service with Meet. But the most impactful of the newest features may be the addition of ‘push-to-talk’ style muting functionality in Google Meet. And it’s a significantly big feature. In fact, it’s potentially enough to help Meet join the ranks of the most popular video calling apps.
Summarily, with the update in place, users will be able to toggle a Setting inside of meetings for the spacebar. Once toggled, users will be muted by default. Pressing the spacebar key will unmute the user for as long as the key is being pressed. The underlying goal for the new feature, according to Google is to help users prevent themselves from forgetting to mute themselves after unmuting.
Aside from push-to-talk via spacebar, what’s new for muting in Google Meet?
In terms of using the spacebar to push-to-talk, that feature is rolling out now. And it will be available to all users on the platform, not just Enterprise-level users. Google is giving the rollout a timeframe of “over the coming weeks,” however. So not every user is necessarily going to see it right away. Although there are some other features rolling out as well.
More users should also see an update that began rolling out prior to this one. Namely, the ability to use peripherals to control muting in Chrome and Chromium-based browsers such as Microsoft Edge.
With that change in place, users will also have a new visual cue for muting. LED colors on supported hardware will change depending on whether users are muted or not. And future updates may add the ability to mute the entire video meeting, end it, and more, in the future with peripherals.