Several weeks ago Google announced a redesign for Gmail on Android in which it gave a greater role to Google Meet, its video calling platform for business users, that is, one of the successors of Hangouts, as we remember that with the death of the latter Google separated Hangouts into two apps: Meet and Chat.
With the pandemic, Google decided to strengthen Meet, since before this service was given higher priority and dissemination to those G Suite users in companies or schools. Such has been its success that Meet was integrated into Gmail, thus allowing G Suite users to make video calls without having to install Meet from their cell phone, and now this option is reaching “normal” Gmail users.
Meet and its integration with Gmail
Apparently Meet is becoming the Google video calling app of choice, as it even seems to be displacing Duo, which was previously the most popular option for users who did not have G Suite. With the new update of Gmail on Android now you can see that at the bottom of the application there are 2 tabs, one that says “Mail” and another that bears the name “Meet.”
In the “Mail” tab you can see all the emails you have in the application, that is, its operation is the same as always. On the other hand, the “Meet” tab is where you can make a video call with Google Meet without having the application installed on your phone.
When you open the tab you will have 2 options, join a video call with the meeting code, or create your new meeting, which you can schedule in Google Calendar, make it instantly, or create a link to share with other users and have them join your video call later.
Some users may have already seen this option on Android with their traditional Google account for a long time, but officially the option has been rolled out to everyone recently.
How to deactivate the “Meeting” tab?
If you are not interested in having this function directly in Gmail you can deactivate it in the following way:
- Go to the application settings.
- Select the account where you want to disable this feature.
- Scroll to the option “Meet”
- Uncheck the box for “Show Meet tab.