Google has announced that the Hangouts Meet video calls app is now available for Android and iOS tablets, letting users join video meetings from any mobile device on the go. Hangouts Meet, which was launched in February last year, is primarily targeted at enterprise customers seeking highly mobile communications tools, Google previously said.
The launch of tablet support for Hangouts Meet marks an expansion of the service’s availability to all G Suite users. There are multiple ways for users to join a video call: from a calendar event by clicking the “Join video call” link in the event section of the Calendar or from a scheduled meeting by swiping up from the bottom to view their scheduled video calls. Further to that, customers can also participate in a video meeting by simply tapping the meeting link sent to them via email or text or just by entering the meeting code found at the end of the meeting link. Another option is to tap the phone number attached to the Calendar event or meeting invite, provided the meeting includes a dial-in number. Following the debut of Hangouts Meet, Google eventually moved to split Hangouts into two communication tools, with the other one being the Hangouts Chat. The goal of the separation was to help G Suite customers boost their productivity and keep in touch with teams, the company claimed. Hangouts Meet gained a number of improvements over the last couple of months. In July last year, the service received support for instant messages, a functionality that it lost temporarily following the division of Hangouts. The feature allows G Suite account owners to send a comment to an ongoing group meeting without disrupting it and share links related to the discussion. Last month, Google announced that G Suite users who use Hangouts Meet will be able to add up to 50 people to a single conference call.
In addition to its debut on tablets, more than 50 Hangouts Meet metrics have been added to the Reports API Customer Usage system to allow organizations to view details on the duration, size, and device-specific characteristics of their Hangouts Meet-enabled calls. The goal is to let groups improve the way they collaborate and work using the app, Alphabet’s subsidiary claims.