Learn how to use Google Meet like a pro in less than 10 mins

Video calling and conferencing services are on a height of popularity these days. The abnormal conditions of COVID-19 are responsible for this abrupt change in users.

One such service about which we'll talk today is Google Meet. As it is offered by one of the most trusted companies in the world, it is highly trustable. It's website is simple to use, has consistently performing features and is regularly updated with more and more features. Its app is comparatively more stable with occasional updates.

So today we'll discuss what Google Meet is, what are its famous features and what are the most annoying problems faced by its users and how to resolve it. We'll also compare it with other services out there in the field.

What is Google Meet?

Credit: Google meet

Google Meet is a video conferencing service offered by Google. Google launched the web, Android as well as the iOS version of Meet in 2017. It was one of the replacement services for Google Hangouts app, other being Google Chat.

To tell you, Google Hangouts was an application developed by Google which provided both the services for chatting as well as video conferencing. While some news is there in the market about it getting shut down, it is still available for users as Google has delayed its shutting down.

Google Meet is a simple, easily navigable and altogether a very useful service. It has a lot of useful features for both its web version and application version.

It was not free for all users until May 2020. Until then only users with a G Suite account could only host the meetings or they had to pay $8 per active users per month to host a meeting.

Keeping the pandemic of Covid-19 in mind Google announced the free version of the service until September 30, 2020. However, Google has now extended the free service until March 31, 2021.

Google made a masterstroke making its service free at such a time when all types of free video calling were progressing with a skyrocketing speed. After Google announced that their service was free, 90% of all the video calling users of all the other minor companies quickly switched on to Google.

By now, means at the time I am writing this article, Google Meet has gone super-famous with its only competitor Zoom perceptible.

Google currently has about 100 million users per day which represents about 300% of growth in its users from January 2020.

According to a recent report it is adding about 2 million new users every day.

For the time being, you can access a lot of features of Google Meet for free. You can join or start a meeting for three till 31st March 2021. However, after that also you'll be able to join a meeting for free but it will cost you a sum of money for starting your meeting.

It is a really useful service, used by millions of professionals daily. It is really useful for schools as well, as they are using it to carry out their online classes.

I used it and found Google Meet was worth the praises going out on the Web.

Pros and Cons of Google Meet

Google Meet like any other services has its advantages and disadvantages which are listed below-

Pros of Google Meet

Google Meet is laden with a lot of features, as mentioned above, which if used correctly are very productive for the users. I have categorized the top 10 features which are most productive and useful for the Meet users. However, Google Meet's website has more features, as expected, as compared to its mobile app. So the advantages of using Google Meet over other services are-

1. Simple and Understandable

   Google Meet, unlike other video conferencing services, has a simple layout which is easily understandable by any beginner. All buttons and options are properly distinguished from each other to avoid any sort of confusion that the user might get into.
   
   

2. Can connect up to 100 users for 24 hours for free

   One of the distinct features of Google Meet is that it allows us to connect up to 100 participants in a meeting for free. It also allows continuing the meeting up to 24-hours.
   However, you can increase the limit of participants up to 150 with G Suite Essentials or G Suite Business and up to 250 participants with G Suite Enterprise Essentials, G Suite Enterprise or G Suite Enterprise for Education.
   
   

3. Highly Secure

   Google Meet provides the feature of conducting highly secure meetings. As per this feature, a participant can only enter the meeting if the host allows him to do so. The host also has the right to mute or remove a participant from the meeting.
   
   

4. Alongside chat feature

   Google Meet also provides a feature to chat with other meeting participants alongside when the meeting is going on. It is one of the most useful features of Meet as it can be used to convey important messages.
   
   

Cons of Google Meet

Google meet indeed is one of the best services out there in the meeting it too like other services have some disadvantages which are discussed below-

1. Consumes comparatively more data

   Google Meet provides a better video conferencing experience and for that, it consumes a comparatively large amount of internet data. However, this problem can be overcome by the method discussed later in this article.
   
   

2. The meeting sometimes hangs abruptly

   Sometimes, when you are in a meeting the incoming or the outgoing voice of participants in that meeting starts breaking, the video starts lagging or the meeting gets hanged completely even you have a good internet connection. In such a case, the participant or the host has to rejoin the meeting which is quite inconvenient.
   
   

3. The app version is quite unstable

   Google is continuously trying to improve its app as well as website by providing some new features as well as removing some. The website is more stable than the Meet app.
   
   In one such update of its app, Google has now changed the complete interface of its application which is slightly uncomfortable for the users, as compared to the previous interface of the app.
   
   

Google Meet vs Zoom

Google Meet and Zoom are currently the two giants of the video conferencing industry today. Some kinds of features are provided by one while other kinds of features are provided by the other.

Like Google Meet, Zoom is also a video conferencing service provided by Zoom Video Communications, Inc which is an American communications technology company.

There are varied views of customers about both Google Meet and Zoom. Some prefer Meet while others prefer Zoom.

They both are comparable on the following parameters-

• Google Meet is preferred for an instant, short meetings while Zoom is preferred for large meetings and webinars.
• Meet is is more cost-efficient than Zoom as Meet preferences come with almost all G Suit plans while a user has to buy Zoom plan separately for carrying out meetings and webinars.
• Meet is more simple and basic as compared to Zoom, as Zoom is designed to carry out meetings and webinars with a large number of participants while Meet is an intermediate service for almost all kinds of meetings.
• You can connect a comparatively large number of people on Zoom as compared to Google Meet.
• Using Google Meet is simple and easy even for beginners while Zoom needs a little bit of understanding of its features prior using it, else the user will have issues for using its even simplest feature.
  
  So, it's up to the will and requirement of the user that which service he prefers.
  
  

  Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

  There are some problems which are often faced by the users of Google Meet when they are trying to access its features. I have tried to sum up the most common problems and their solutions together in this post.
  
  

  How to use Google Meet grid view and get to see all participants together at one screen?

  This feature of Google Meet is very famous in the current scenario. This feature allows a user to see all participants with their videos in a meeting, on a single screen.
  
  You can enable the Grid view in a meeting by changing its layout in the settings. But the problem is that only a few participants are seen on the screen.
  
  To see all participants of meeting with their video on a single screen you need to install a chrome extension which would allow you to do so.
  
  One such extension is Google Meet Grid View (fix). This is the most helpful and productive extension that would allow you to use the Grid View in Google Meet.
  Update- In the recent update Meet has provided the required option for displaying as many participants as you want on your screen.
  
  

  How to carry out a meeting with a slow internet connection or when running out of data(on PC)?

  Credit: Google meet
  
  You need a good internet connection to carry out a meeting on Google Meet. But many a time we don't have such a good connection or we are running out of data.
  
  So a question arises that what to do in such a situation. For that, you need to compromise something and that is video quality.
  
  So to carry out a meeting with low data consumption you can either set the video quality as 720p, 360p, 360p with one video at a time or audio-only by going to the video settings.
  
  If you only need to hear the voices of the people then selecting the audio-only setting is preferable and will allow you to carry out the meeting smoothly even with low data usage.
  
  

  Where to find the chat section in the updated app version of Google Meet?

  In the previous versions of the app, the chat feature was quite prominent. But in the latest update of the app by Google, the chat feature needs to be found and requires 2-3 clicks to reach to that section.
  
  To access the chat feature in the updated app just click on the options button (three dots) in the lower right corner and select the In Call Messages option.
  
  

  What to do if my camera and mic are working properly in other places but not in Meet(on PC)?

  Credit: Google meet
  
  If this happens to you then there is a possibility that Meet has not set your camera and microphone which you want to use as default.
  
  To ensure that this does not happen to you, go to the settings and select the audio tab from there. Make sure that the device you want to use as the microphone is selected under the Microphone section.
  
  Do the same for your camera. This time select the Video tab and check whether the device you want to as the camera for the meeting is selected.
  
  

  How to use Google Meet on a phone with Android version below 5.0?

  Google Meet app can only be used on a smartphone with the Android version 5.0 or above. But what to do if you want to use it on a lower Android version?
  
  For that, you need to open chrome on your phone and select the Desktop site checkbox from the Options button on the upper right corner of the screen. Now paste the invitation link of Meet in the same tab of Chrome and you'll be able to join the meeting.
  
  
  

  How to host your first meeting on Google Meet?

  Hosting a meeting on Google Meet is the simplest task as compared to hosting meetings using other services. You can host a meeting on Google Meet in less than 15 seconds.
  
  

  To host your first meeting using Google Meet on a PC just follow the bellow steps-

  1. Open a browser on your PC and head over to the official website of Google Meet.
  2. Click on the New meeting option
  3. A drop-down will appear with three options namely-
     • Get a meeting link to share:You can use this option when you want to send the link of the meeting before hand to the participants. This option is generally used for carrying out online classes when teachers send the link to the participants one day before the class starts. Make sure that you yourself also keep the link safely for further use.
     • Start an instant meeting:You can use this option when you want to start the meeting right at the moment.Generally people use this option to conduct a meeting
     • Schedule in Google Calender:You can use this option if you want to conduct a webinar or meeting on a specific date in the future.
  4. For example, select the Start an instant meeting option which will redirect you to the joining page.
  5. On the next page select the Join now option to get-into your meeting.
  6. After you join your meeting, a dialogue box will appear with the link to be shared to invite the participants.
  7. Share this link with people whom you want to invite in your meeting.
  8. Congratulations! You have hosted your first Google Meet.
  
  
  

  To host your first meeting using Google Meet on a smartphone just follow the bellow steps-

  1. Open the Google Meet app on your phone.
  2. Click on the New meeting tab
  3. A drop-down will appear with three options namely-
     • Get a meeting link to share:You can use this option when you want to send the link of the meeting before hand to the participants. This option is generally used for carrying out online classes when teachers send the link to the participants one day before the class starts. Make sure that you yourself also keep the link safely for further use.
     • Start an instant meeting:You can use this option when you want to start the meeting right at the moment.Generally people use this option to conduct a meeting
     • Schedule in Google Calender:You can use this option if you want to conduct a webinar or meeting on a specific date in the future.
  4. For example, select the Start an instant meeting option which will create the meeting and you will be the only one there.
  5. After you join your meeting, an option on the centre of the screen will appear with the link to be shared to invite the participants.
  6. Share this link with people whom you want to invite in your meeting.
  7. Congratulations! You have hosted your first Google Meet.

  Conclusion

  So, all together Google Meet is a very useful service especially in the current scenario of Covid-19. It is cheaper than other video conferencing services and is simpler too.
  
  In my opinion, you should go ahead to at least try it out. If you enjoyed carrying out the meeting on Google meet comment with 'Yes' or if you didn't find it as good as other services comment with 'No', I am keen to know :)