- Google Meet has crossed 50 million downloads after it was opened for free by Google earlier this month amid ongoing pandemic.
Most people are trapped at home due to the coronavirus pandemic and are searching for ways to stay in contact with each other. Zoom has been a common solution for businesses and individuals for quite some time. But with Google’s bid being free earlier this month, 50 million installs on the Play Store have now passed.
Since March the app has become increasingly popular, as shown by AppBrain data. At the beginning of March it passed five million downloads, then rapidly passed 10 million days later and has now been downloaded more than 50 million times. The service used to be exclusively free for GSuite users before the company revealed that it would make it open to everyone at no cost.
It’s not surprising that people turn to Google Meet, particularly given that it comes with a bunch of advanced features and can be considered safer than Zoom.
The tech giant has announced in a blog post that it will slowly open Meet in the weeks ahead.
“We are making Google Meet, our premium video conferencing app, free for all today, with availability rolling out over the next few weeks,” wrote Javier Soltero, Vice President & GM, G Suite.
The post also shared that the free version of the app would be rolled out to all users in early May and that all the features previously available to paid users would be available free of charge to all.
“At the beginning of May, anyone with an email address may sign up for Meet and enjoy many of the same features that our business and educational users have at their fingertips, such as easy scheduling and screen sharing, real-time captions and templates that suit your style, including an extended tiled view.” If you don’t receive the update, you may also sign up for notification when your account is updated.
Additionally, according to Smita Hashim, product director for Google Meet, the free offer is permanent. “It will last just like Gmail,” she said. “Video conferencing has become pretty much an essential service,” she said in a Bloomberg report.
Meet calls pass through Google’s servers, allowing automated captioning, troubleshooting issues and compliance with legal requirements to share data with users. But the calls from the consumers won’t be stored. Businesses and schools will have special access to meetings and other ways to document.
