Google quietly ends unlimited group video calling for free accounts on Meet

Google has quietly ended unlimited group video calls facility for free accounts on its video calling app Meet, and the users will now get only an hour time for group calls.

According to an update on Google support page for Meet users, at 55 minutes, everyone gets a notification that the call is about to end.

"To extend the call, the host can upgrade their Google account. Otherwise, the call will end at 60 minutes," the company said in the update.

One-on-one calls will be available for up to 24 hours and calls with three or more participants for up to 60 minutes.

However, Google Workspace individual subscribers can host one-on-one calls and group calls with three or more participants for up to 24 hours.

The company continued providing unlimited calls (up to 24 hours) in the free version of its video conferencing app called Meet till the end of June for Gmail accounts.

Google last year announced that anyone with a Google account was allowed to create free meetings with up to 100 people with no time limit in the pandemic times.

Google last month announced that its integrated communication and collaboration service Workspace is now available to everyone with a Google account.

The company's 3 billion-plus existing users across consumer, enterprise, and education have access to the full Google Workspace experience, including Gmail, Chat, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Meet and more.

--IANS

na/