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Making sure your video feed is perfect on a Google Meet call just got easier than ever thanks to a new update.
The video conferencing service is launching a new way for users to quickly access the tweaks and tools they need to make sure they look their best during a call.
Whether it’s cropping the field of view, improving the background, or adding a little more personality with a fun filer, Google Meet says the new addition makes it easy to ramp up your calls.
Plus, there’s no new tab or options page to click through — users just have to hover the mouse over the top of their video feed to bring up a new menu.
In the center of the screen, it provides quick access to filters, including blurring or immersive backgrounds, as well as the ability to pin certain objects or contacts.
It will also give users the opportunity to zoom, crop or reframe their video feed to improve visibility – as well as be able to turn off other participants’ video feeds, which Google says it will Can be helpful in situations where you want to “restrict the meeting view to the presenter only or hide participants from distracting video feeds.”
The update is rolling out now, and doesn’t require any admin controls, which means it will be rolling out to many users soon.
The company says that the new quick action menu is available to all Google Workspace customers, however the reframing feature is only available for Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, Teaching and Is. Learning upgrade, and Workspace individual customers.
It will also be available to Google One subscribers with 2TB or more of storage space.
Analysis – Crop, Background, Action?
As anyone now has to take video calls and meetings on the go, it’s paramount to make sure your feed looks right – especially if it’s a business call.
The quick and easy way to tweak and improve the appearance of a video feed is really useful, so hats off to Google Meet for that. It may not immediately provide everything we need, but being able to quickly crop and zoom is an incredibly useful tool in itself.
Google Meet announcing support for whiteboard cameras shortly after, as well as finally offering 1080p video feeds (for some customers) shows that the video calling industry remains as strong and competitive as ever – we’re lucky Are.
