Google Meet is still no Zoom but it definitely spiked in popularity when it started offering free conference calls to anyone who has a Google account. And if you’re deep into the Google ecosystem, then you might have preferred its interface and features than the more complicated video conferencing tools out there. The good news is that they keep adding new things to make it more useful like noise cancellation and attendance reports. The bad news is that starting September 30, free users will only be limited to using it for 60 minutes.
If you want to get rid of those barking dogs and crying babies in the background without having to mute yourself, Google Meet will now be able to filter out background noises when you’re on a video call on your Android device. It will automatically remove the noise around you while still letting your voice be clearly heard through your mobile device’s audio input. This was actually launched for desktops earlier but now is rolling out for smartphones and tablets too.
For those who are using G Suite Enterprise for Education, organizers will be able to receive an attendance report once the call is over. It will only be generated though if there are at least five and not more than 250 participants. You will get information like the name, email, length of time they were in the call and when they entered and left. This is useful for teachers who need to keep attendance records. It will of course be saved in Google Sheets.
The bad news is that the days of free, unlimited Meet calls are over. Starting September 30, Google Meet will once again bring back the 60-minute limit to free meetings. This is actually nothing new as that has always been the case but Google decided not to enforce it the past few months due to the pandemic. They’re bringing back the restrictions now but it’s unclear if it will be like before where once the hour is up, you can just create a new meeting with the same participants.
The noise filter for Google Meet is only available for G Suite Enterprise users and not for G Suite Basic and others in that same tier. Attendance reports are only for G Suite for Education customers only. The 60-minute limit will be for all Google Meet users on a free Google account.
