Google Meet: improve layout and content to make meetings more flexible

17/05/2021

Table of contents

What’s changing

Inspired by user feedback, Google is rolling out a new Google Meet experience to desktop/laptop with updates to the video feed, viewing and presentation experience, and audio. bottom.

Meeting screen interface

Hover over your Video Feeds for options between grid tiles or floating images. You can also resize, reposition, and hide it to focus on the call.
Your self-view appears at the bottom right of the grid to bring more of your Video Feeds to eye level when you look into the camera.

Experience viewing and presenting information

See what you're presenting in Google Meet.
Unpin content you or others share to see more and larger video feeds.
Participant names are always displayed regardless of meeting size.

Footer bar

Meeting dial-in codes, attachments, participant list, chat, and other activities are at the bottom right to create more vertical space to see people and content.
Controls are consolidated in one place with descriptions available on hover.
The Leave Call button is moved away from the microphone and camera button to avoid call hangs.
The bottom bar is always visible, while not covering the cover captions and bottom video feed.

Other visual updates include

When someone speaks, their box is outlined in blue.
Mute indicators are softened to reduce visual distraction.
When there are more participants than can be displayed on the grid, a box is added so you always remember who is on the call.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

Enjoy a simpler, more flexible experience that lets you confidently participate in Google Meet calls as a presenter, attendee, teacher, or student knowing you have more control More control over your video feed, layout, and content.

Additional details

Users will see a banner before joining a call that says “Meet has a new look” when this refreshed UI is enabled for them.
Using Chrome extensions (including the Grid View extension) may affect your experience. Uninstalling any extensions that interact with Google Meet may resolve this issue.
For a better presentation and to avoid mirroring, share to another window or a specific tab instead of the meeting window.
In some cases, your self-view may appear with gray bars at the top and bottom to show you everything your camera sees. Other participants can see a cropped version of your video feed.