Google has today announced a host of useful changes coming to its Meet video conferencing platform. The first one – and the one I am most excited about – is the ability to add motion backgrounds. Google Meet already allows you to change the background, or blur it for some privacy.
The new video backgrounds – which arrive in the coming weeks – will add some fun elements to your video calls. For now, there are only three motion backgrounds – a classroom, a forest, and a party mode with colorful dancing sausages – but more will be added down the road. Google says that these video backgrounds will be available on both mobile and desktop clients of Meet.
In addition to video backgrounds, Google Meet is also getting the following upgrades very soon:
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The tile view in Google Meet is getting upgraded. Users will be able to pin multiple tiles, highlight a speaker and presentation video at once, or multiple speakers simultaneously. This will come in handy, especially when a speaker is presenting his screen and also wants to be seen in action prominently while speaking.
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Users can hide their own video feed to see more people. Plus, there will also be an option to resize or position the tile.
- A Data Saver mode is coming to Google Meet, allowing users to save on precious mobile data while they are having a meeting using cellular data.
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Google Meet will automatically enhance the brightness and exposure level using AI if you’re sitting against a bright backdrop such as open windows on a sunny day. In the coming weeks, users will be able to access these light adjustment controls to make themselves more visible during video calls.
- An AI-driven feature called Autozoom is also in the pipeline, which automatically zooms in and positions you in the center of the frame. However, it will only be available to users on the paid tier of Workspace in the coming months.