While Google has been focusing on their Meet app to compete with the likes of Zoom and Microsoft Teams, they still have their other video calling app. Duo is more for the personal type of calls and if you have a big family or a large group of friends, it would be nice to fit you all in one video call. The latest update now lets you have up to 32 people on a Duo web call. You will have to sign in to your Google account to be able to utilize it but it should be easier now since you can save duo.google.com as a Progressive Web App.
Originally, Duo had a limit of just eight participants in a video call. But when the pandemic started and a lot of people could only communicate through video calls, they expanded it to 12 people. As video conferencing demands continue to grow, it was only a matter of time until they expanded it to accommodate more family members and friends. The latest update now lets you have video calls with up to 32 people on the web.
The Duo UI has tiled squares with rounded corners and it puts portrait and landscape boxes alongside each other. It’s also similar to the Android UI that they previously released with a six-grid front and center and a carousel of faces at the bottom of the screen which you can scroll through the other people on the carousel. Both the mobile and web versions are much easier on the eyes for some as compared to Zoom’s interface.
To be able to use this feature, you will need to sign in to your Google account, not just your phone number (which allows you to join a call). You will see a “create group” button under the Start a call button and then you can choose who can join you in the video call. You can also send invites in case the person isn’t in your Duo contacts just yet.
Google says they’re using the WebRTC API which supports end-to-end encryption, similar to the Android app. It is starting to roll out to users in the latest version of Chrome.
