Google has today launched yet another communication app (via TechCrunch), this time for business. It’s called “Meet by Google Hangouts,” and it’s made for high-definition video calls between as many as 30 people. It seems Google may have pushed this live by accident, since its page on the G Suite website still isn’t up. Or perhaps they would just rather keep it quiet…
As you can see over at meet.google.com, it looks a lot like Google Hangouts on the web with a beautifully scenic backdrop and a calendar + clock widget. It’s a lot more simplistic than you’re used to seeing on the Hangouts website, only allowing you to “Use a meeting code” to jump into a video conference. At least for now, it doesn’t look like you can start a new call — only join one.
While now pulled, Google earlier today accidentally pushed the iOS app live, and TechCrunch managed to snag a few screenshots. As you can see below, the app gives you a rundown of meetings that are coming up, and you can see the time it’s taking place and who is currently active. To join a meeting, you simply tap a big green button labeled “Join Meeting”.
We haven’t been able to use the app ourselves yet, but TechCrunch says it only has one limitation that’s enterprise-specific: dial-in numbers are only going to be available to customers who have G Suite Enterprise Edition.
While Hangouts is still pretty popular — Allo’s stickers still haven’t really made a dent in it yet — Google said last year that Hangouts would be slowly but surely shifting towards an enterprise-focused strategy. This release seems to be the first real evidence of that. Google still hasn’t even announced the app, yet, though, so stay tuned for more official information when it does.
This will likely be the URL to check out when it goes live again on iOS, and we’ll let you know when the Android app goes live as well.
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