Google Meet (Duo) now lets you switch accounts, but adds navigation drawer in the process

Abner Li | Sep 16 2022 - 12:09 pm PT

As previewed at the start of this month, Google Meet (Duo) is rolling out an account switcher, but it’s getting a navigation drawer in the process.

Today’s changes reside in the search field at the top of Google Meet, which was previously the Duo application. Instead of a three-dot overflow menu button at the right, you now get a standard account switcher that notes your Google One status, which is particularly relevant given Google Workspace Premium.

This is useful for the meeting aspects of the combined service and needing to switch between personal and work accounts when joining a call. As always, you can swipe on your profile photo to quickly switch or tap to see the full list.

As a result of this change, Google Meet (Duo) now has a navigation drawer at the left that links to: Privacy in Meet, Settings, and Help & feedback.

Preferences have been cleaned up and starts by noting what account you’re signed in with. However, you cannot tap the first line until you open “Calling settings” and click “Calling account.” The options that appear here are unchanged, but do get reworded to be clearer. Namely, several “Duo” references have been renamed.

From a design standpoint, the navigation drawer is something that Google has been moving away from. It’s surprising that Google did not just integrate those three options into the account menu. That said, Google Messages should be getting a nav drawer if the Google Photos integration ever widely rolls out. The SMS/RCS client is in a similar boat with video upload tied to your Google Account.

Version 174 of Google Meet (Duo) rolls out the account switcher, with the Play Store listing already renamed.