Google Duo is merging with Meet to cover all of your video calling needs

Google announced today that it will merge Duo and Meet, two of its video-calling apps, into a single platform. Soon, Google Meet will be the sole calling app consumers will need for almost everything in their lives, and Google hopes it will be that app.

Google hopes that by combining the two, it will be able to address some of the issues that plague modern communication systems. “What’s been incredibly crucial is learning how people choose what tool they’re going to use, for what purpose, in what environment,” says Javier Soltero, Google Workspace’s director. There are a million different chat applications in our digital lives, each with its own set of rules, standards, and contact list, some for work and some for personal use.

Google is seeking to connect everything with Gmail addresses and phone numbers. “It’s incredibly crucial and powerful to be able to contact you that way,” Soltero adds, “and allow you to choose whether or not you want to be reached, rather than having to manage all of these other identities and deal with the consequences.” For the majority of his time at Google, Soltero has preached the concept of “reachability,” which has prompted Google to integrate Meet and Chat into so many of its other services. It’s a noble ambition, but it comes with a cost: adding everything to everything has crowded and complicated some of Google’s services. A meeting can be started from any location! But, what about you?

It’s a good idea to streamline your communication options, but slamming everything together at random won’t work. The meet has evolved into a robust platform for meetings and group conversations of all kinds in recent years, whereas Duo has remained primarily a messaging software. Google claims it will bring all of Duo’s capabilities to Meet in the future, and it appears to believe it can provide the best of both worlds.

But it’s not exactly accurate to claim Duo is being murdered. The software, which was first released by Google in 2016 as a simple way to make one-to-one video calls, does a few things that Meet doesn’t. For one thing, rather than relying on emailing links, you can call someone directly – including with their phone number.

This is just another attempt from google to bring together some of its previously fragmented pieces resulting in a more coherent and integrated Google suite of services. According to Soltero as meet grew in popularity during the global pandemic it became clear that it would be the best place for google to focus its audio and video efforts in future, and he hopes that meet brand will grow to msean more than ‘meeting’ over time.

Meet is now integrated into so many Google services that it may quickly become a viable WhatsApp and FaceTime competitor, but only if it can integrate without being inconvenient or difficult.