Duo that becomes Meet, and Meet that becomes “original” is the emblem of confusion

Google Duo and Meet will become one application. It’s already over two months that Google has confirmed yet another reshuffle for its apps, and since the beginning of August the union has started on Android, even if for now it is more a split that generates confusion. In fact, let’s recap what happened, in case you missed it, also because by now the update should have arrived on most Android smartphones.

Duo and Meet merge … and split up

• Google Duo has been renamed to Meet: by clicking on the Duo icon in the app drawer of your device, you will see it transform into Meet, and its icon will disappear from the list, replaced by the colored one you see above on the cover in the center. But be careful: it is not the usual Google Meet that you know, but a “hybrid” version between Meet and Duo, with some features of both.
• The “old” Meet is still present, and has been renamed to Meet (original): same icon, but all in shades of green (the last one on the right). In fact now you might then have two Meet in your app list, with identical icon but different colors.

The screenshot above depict the first start of the new Duo-Meet and explains that it actually combines the functions of the two apps. You can make video calls to your contacts (including groups) as before, or even call your compatible Google Home; you can also schedule a new meeting with Meet, even on Google Calendar.

The new Meet with Duo works well, but the original is lurking

The settings are a bit of a hybrid too – we have the function Knock Knock typical of Duo, to see who is calling you before accepting the call, and the low light mode recently introduced in Meet, to automatically increase the brightness on your face.

Let’s be clear, from a point of view of union of features, the “new Meet” does things right. What is confusing is the simultaneous presence alongside the old Meet (original), especially since Google itself recommends using the Meet app, to have video conferencing and calls in a single app.

There is an extensive help page on the Google support site which explains all these features, which are quite intuitive. It would be enough not to have overlapped the alternation of the two apps, and maybe have one a little more long-term visionsomething that with messaging (and similar) Google can hardly find.

We should perhaps remind you that Duo was launched in tandem with the defunct Allo messaging app (closed on March 12, 2019)? And today’s relaunch of Meet is a direct consequence of pandemicrather than planning ahead of time. And what will it be tomorrow? Who knows, but if the past (and present) are of any teaching, there will certainly be some new messaging and video calling apps to talk about. Or to say hello.