Google Meet brings tile view to mobile apps (soon on Android)
Not everyone is able to join virtual meetings, classes, and hangouts on their desktops or laptops where apps are more robust. Some can only join on their mobile devices but not all video calling apps are that great on mobile. Google Meet has promised to bring some improvements to their app versions and now they have started rolling out tile view on mobile apps. However, this is only available for iOS devices for some reason although it is “coming soon” to Android as well.
Google Workspace tweeted out that they’re bringing the tile view on Google Meet for mobile devices, particularly on iOS. This means you will be able to see up to 8 participants in your video call and if there are more than 8, they will be noted in the bottom right corner. Each of the boxes will have the name of the participant with their talk status found in the upper right corner. This tile view can be found both in the dedicated app and in Gmail’s integrated experience with Google Meet.
Have a bigger impact on a smaller screen with #GoogleMeet tile view on your mobile device, rolling out now on iOS and coming soon to Android! 🙌 → https://t.co/OLAvcuDmYy pic.twitter.com/ZHjzQ8tedH
— Google Workspace (@GoogleWorkspace) March 10, 2021
The past year saw Google scrambling to make Google Meet try to catch part of the suddenly huge video conferencing market which was initially dominated by Zoom. While some of the things they added were a bit half-baked at the time, Google Meet gradually improved, well at least the desktop version. They promised to bring more improvements to the mobile app eventually but they are focusing on adding second-screen experiences.
Google Meet on mobile will eventually get things like split-screen mode, picture-in-picture support so you can still multi-task while on a video call. They will also soon bring things like background replacement, Q&A, polls, and other interactive tools to make Google Meet more of a virtual experience than just a video calling app. Both the desktop and mobile experience will let you use a mix of devices for your meetings, classrooms, etc.
Those using Google Meet on their iOS device can now experience the tile view. As to when that “coming soon” will arrive on Android is still anyone’s guess.
