Google Retires the Original Meet Application

In recent years, Google has implemented several measures to streamline its various video and chat services. A significant change occurred in 2022 when the Duo video calling application was integrated into Google Meet, marking the company’s effort to establish a unified video conferencing platform.

Previously, users encountered confusion due to the existence of two Meet applications: the original Hangouts Meet, which was rebranded as Meet, and a newer version that incorporated the codebase and user base of Duo. This overlap created a challenging experience for consumers who had to navigate between similarly named applications.

Recently, Google has decided to officially retire the original Meet app. Users attempting to join a video call with the outdated version now receive a prompt to uninstall it, guiding them to download the latest Meet app from the Google Play Store.

Accessing a meet.google.com link with the original app results in an error message stating, “You can’t use this version of the Meet app anymore.”This notification encourages users to upgrade to the enhanced Meet experience, which is available for download on the Play Store.

Although the original Meet app remains listed on the Play Store for the time being, opening it leads to a termination notice. It appears that Google has discreetly withdrawn support for the older app, directing users to its consolidated video platform.

It’s important to note that the rollout of this upgrade may take some time before reaching every Meet user. Therefore, patience is advised while waiting for the new version to arrive on your device.

In the meantime, Google is focused on continuously improving the new Meet app, enhancing it with features like attendee reactions, direct calling capabilities, audio-only mode, live captions, and more. By eliminating redundant applications, Google can concentrate its development efforts on a single, cohesive product.

Source: 9to5Google

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