Google Rolls Out Voice and Video Call Features to Gmail App

Google has added the ability to join one-on-one Google Chat voice and video calls from within the Gmail app, the company has announced.

gmail calls
Before now, it was possible to make calls from within the Gmail app on iOS and Android, but users had to send an invite to a Google Meet video conferencing call, which was more convoluted and limiting.

In future, however, users will be able to tap new phone and video icons that appear in the upper right corner of individual one-on-one chat screens in the Google Chat section of the app.

In addition, users who initiate a call from the Google Chat app will now be redirected to the Gmail app, highlighting Google's intention of putting the Gmail app at the center of its communication platforms.

The call feature is rolling out from December 6 for everyone with Google Workspace, G Suite, or personal Google accounts.

(Via The Verge.)

Tag: Gmail

Top Rated Comments

Mousse Avatar
31 months ago
Crikey! Google is gonna do to Gmail what Apple did to iTunes, what MS did to Words--bloat, bloat, bloat.

Gawd, I miss the 80's Unix philosophy: "A program should do one thing and do it well."
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AlixSPQR Avatar
31 months ago
I uninstalled the Gmail app some time ago because it wants to do too much (Meet and 2FA, notably). That decision was obviously correct.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Eddy Munn Avatar
31 months ago
Here we go again!
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dysamoria Avatar
31 months ago
So this already bloated 340MB app will get another 200+MB more bloated.

An EMAIL app does not need video/audio calling features.

This is the only Google product I still use and I’ve hated every minute of it. I really need to move all my online accounts off of GMail.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LoveTo Avatar
31 months ago
Oh yeah. It must’ve been tough to try to extract data, while trying to eavesdrop on a FaceTime call with the help of secondary gadgets like Google home. With the call placed via a Google service, it would be much simpler as Google would get a copy of the clear video of the conversation. And yes, it would obviously be “End-to-end encrypted” ?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wanha Avatar
31 months ago
Only a matter of time before Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint all get Chat, Voice and Video Calling features.

A video call used to be a cool product/service, but now it's mainly just a feature that is added just about everywhere.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
macbook pro purple february

Best Buy Introduces Record Low Prices on Apple's M3 MacBook Pro for Members

Thursday April 25, 2024 7:41 am PDT by
Best Buy is discounting a collection of M3 MacBook Pro computers today, this time focusing on the 14-inch version of the laptop. Every deal in this sale requires you to have a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership, although non-members can still get solid second-best prices on these MacBook Pro models. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a...
apple id account

Apple ID Accounts Logging Out Users and Requiring Password Reset

Saturday April 27, 2024 12:41 am PDT by
There are widespread reports of Apple users being locked out of their Apple ID overnight for no apparent reason, requiring a password reset before they can log in again. Users say the sudden inexplicable Apple ID sign-out is occurring across multiple devices. When they attempt to sign in again they are locked out of their account and asked to reset their password in order to regain access. ...
macos sonoma feature purple green

Apple's Regular Mac Base RAM Boosts Ended When Tim Cook Took Over

Friday April 26, 2024 6:34 am PDT by
Apple used to regularly increase the base memory of its Macs up until 2011, the same year Tim Cook was appointed CEO, charts posted on Mastodon by David Schaub show. Earlier this year, Schaub generated two charts: One showing the base memory capacities of Apple's all-in-one Macs from 1984 onwards, and a second depicting Apple's consumer laptop base RAM from 1999 onwards. Both charts were...