As the coronavirus pandemic and video calls, both are here to stay Google Meet is adding a much-needed feature update where users can seamlessly unmute themselves during calls. The feature would let users easily mute and unmute themselves and it has been "borrowed" from Zoom's popular feature.
The tech giant, in a Google Workspace blog, said that Google Meet would soon give users the ability to mute themselves by holding down the spacebar and then unmute again by releasing the spacebar.
"To quickly unmute yourself during a meeting, you can now hold down the spacebar to be unmuted, then release the spacebar to return to a muted state. We hope this makes it even easier for you to participate in your meetings by quickly unmuting to say something. This feature will also help in situations where you forget to mute again after unmuting yourself. This feature is OFF by default and can be enabled in the Google Meet settings," Google Workspace wrote in a blog post.
It should be noted that video conferencing app Zoom already has this feature where users can easily unmute and mute by holding down the spacebar. Webex by Cisco has the same feature and Microsoft Teams lets users do the same by holding down the spacebar and Ctrl key.
Meanwhile, Google Meet is being updated with new features after being merged with Google Duo. The tech giant recently said that additional meeting features let users start an instant video call with their entire study group or connect with their colleagues at a recurring scheduled time. Before they join a meeting, they can change their background or apply visual effects.
During the meeting, they will also be able to use in-meeting chat and captions for more ways to participate. "We are also launching live sharing for Google Meet. Live sharing allows all meeting participants to interact with the content that is being shared," Dave Citron, Director of Product Management, Google Duo and Google Meet, recently said in a blog post.