A Google Meet update rolling out now will let you do more from the picture-in-picture window, Google said in a blog post on Wednesday.
Google’s video conferencing tool already let people leave a meeting and turn their cameras or microphones on and off from the picture-in-picture window. Now, they’ll be able to do five more things: raise their hand, use in-meeting chat, turn captions on and off, more effectively resize the picture-in-picture view and access flexible layouts.
Picture-in-picture mode, which is only available with Google Chrome on a computer, allows people to keep an eye on a meeting while they navigate to a different tab or window. It can be useful while taking notes, viewing meeting-related documents or presenting, Google notes.
Google Meet’s free tier allows for 60-minute calls with up to 100 participants (all participants will need to be signed into a Google account to join). In our roundup of the best video chat apps, CNET found that Google Meet’s “biggest selling point” is its integration with other Google apps like Slides, Sheets and Docs. Fast access to Google apps makes Meet a useful tool for study groups, collaborating on projects and organizing events.
The update will rollout over the next two weeks. Here are instructions from Google on how to start picture-in-picture mode.
