Google Meet vs. Hangouts: What's the difference?

Although governments have started to wear off Corona virus-connected Quarantines and bansMany people still work from home and limit social visits to Video chat apps and services such as Zoom, Skype and FaceTime.

Two options that top the list for virtual happy hour or brainstorming with colleagues come from Google’s tool suite: Google Hangouts and Google Meet. Here are the main differences between the two video chat services and choosing the best one to use.

Continue reading: 10 free alternative zoom apps for video chatting

Google Meet vs. Hangouts: What's the difference? 1

Google / screenshot by Abrar Al-Heeti / CNET

Google Hangouts is the technology giant’s app for free video and voice calls, as well as group messaging and file sharing. It is aimed at consumers for occasional video chats with friends and family. You can invite up to 150 people to a Google Hangouts chat, but only up to 10 people can join a video call at the same time. You need a Google Account to make a call to Hangouts. However, you can join an account without this account.

Use Google Hangouts through your Gmail account, the iOS or Android app, your web browser, or the Chrome extension. To start a call, go to hangouts.google.com or search for it in the left sidebar in Gmail. Select a person from the hangout list, or search for and click their name or email address. click Video call. Open it in the app and tap + Button. Then enter your contact’s name or email address and click the camera icon to start a video call.

A disadvantage of Google Hangouts is that the view shifts to the person who is speaking so that you cannot see everyone at once as you can with a tiled or gallery view on Meet. However, this may be less of a problem for a smaller group.

Continue reading: Google Hangouts vs. Zoom: Which video chat app is better during quarantine?

Google

Google Meet is Google’s business video conferencing service. In response to the coronavirus pandemic (and likely to compete with the video conferencing giant Zoom), Google Meet and Hangouts have recently made it available to consumers free of charge.

Meet enables up to 100 participants to make a call at the same time and includes functions such as scheduling, screen sharing and subtitles in real time. People can join your meeting using their laptops or the Meet Mobile app with a web link.

Continue reading: How to use Google Meet: Free video conferencing if you don’t love zoom

You must have a Google Account to use the free version of Meet. Video calls are capped at 60 minutes. However, Google has announced that it will only enforce this rule after September 30th. So for now you can chat as long as you want.

Meet also has a number of standard privacy policies, including host controls (such as the ability to allow or deny a meeting, and mute or remove participants), complex meeting codes, and encryption during transmission. This appears to be Google’s goal to target Zoom, which saw a significant increase in users when corona viruses began to be blocked, but has since faced a number of security issues, including “zoom boming” meetings with uninvited guests.

The final result

So which should you use Hangouts or Meet? It depends on what you are looking for. Hangouts may be the easier option for occasional calls with friends you already spend time with in G-Chat. But Meet is the more elegant option that allows for larger group meetings and tighter security – and now that it’s free for everyone, it’s worth trying.

For more help with your video chats, go to how to make video conferencing less strange, Tips for using zoom like a pro, How to look and sound great with your webcam online and Here’s how to turn your phone into a webcam.