Google set to add ‘Companion Mode’ to Google Meet – Times of India

Internet search giant Google has added a new mode to its video calling platform, Google Meet, that adds a second screen experience to the platform.
The feature called “Companion Mode” was first talked about at the company’s recently held developer conference Google I/O 2021.
The companion mode on Google Meet is said to foster collaboration equity in a hybrid work world.
“Companion Mode is designed to seamlessly connect those in the room with their remote teammates, giving everyone advanced features to participate, while leveraging the best of in-room audio and video conferencing capabilities,” saiid Google.
Despite their location, the Companion Mode will allow participants of a Google Meet call to access to interactive features and controls like screen sharing, polls, in-meeting chat, hand raise, Q&A, live captions, and more.
Google said that those colleagues who are in the same meeting room together will enable Companion Mode on their personal devices, which will give them their own video tile in Meet.
The company also announced that the Companion Mode will be available on the web and company’s upcoming progressive web app in September.
For mobile devices, there is no set timeline but the Sundar Pichai-led and it will be coming soon to mobile.
As mentioned, this feature was first announced by the company at I/O 2021. At the event, the company had announced a range of new features that are coming to its products — Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Lens, Android and Google search.