Google has rolled out a new feature to its video chat app Duo that adds video calls to a user’s native phone call history. That means the updated Google Duo app will now start monitoring the video calls you make using the app and you can then search your Google Duo call log in your phone’s built-in calling app. This latest feature is being added to version 14 of the app, which essentially integrates Google Duo calls with your device’s standard call log. Keep in mind that you must first give the app permission to gain access to your native call history. Once you have done so, Google Duo will start displaying video calls alongside your regular calls.
To help users easily identify which call is made using their native calling app and which one is made using Google Duo, there is a small camcorder icon found under the number you dialed using Duo to distinguish regular calls from Duo video calls. It is not immediately clear, however, whether the latest Google Duo version also adds voice calls to the native call history. The update is now available to all users, and if you have not installed the app in your device, the latest version of Google Duo is free to download from the Google Play Store. If you are unable, however, to get the latest version of Google Duo with this new feature, you have the option to sideload the update.
Google Duo, which recently reached more than 100 million downloads, is an independent video chat app launched in August last year. Since its debut, the app has received numerous updates that show Google’s effort to keep improving the tool for users. Most recently, Google introduced a feature to Duo that affects a user’s on-screen experience with the app while making a video call. More specifically, that update concealed the control buttons from Google Duo while a video call is ongoing. Prior to that update, Google Duo added the ability for Android users worldwide to make audio calls using the app, as well as a picture-in-picture mode, though the last one was available only with the Android O developer preview.