Google Workspace Changes

Admins gain control over Speech Translation in Google Meet, enabling near real-time language translation.

Google Meet is introducing a Speech Translation feature that provides near real-time language translation during meetings to help bridge communication gaps. This feature is currently in alpha and is set to launch more broadly in beta on January 27, 2026. A new admin control for this feature will be available in the Admin console under Meet service settings > Gemini settings, which is enabled by default and can be managed at the Organizational Unit (OU) level. The feature's functionality relies on the Gemini for Meet admin setting being active, and its beta status means that availability and translation quality may vary. The rollout of the admin setting will begin gradually on January 7, 2026, for both Rapid and Scheduled Release domains. For end-users, the feature will gradually roll out to Rapid Release domains starting January 27, 2026, and to Scheduled Release domains with a full rollout starting February 18, 2026. This feature will be available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Plus, Frontline Plus, Google AI Pro and Ultra, Google AI Ultra for Business add-on, and Google AI Pro for Education add-on subscribers.

Accelerate validation of Google Meet eCDN configuration at scale with Silent Test Mode.

Google Meet introduces Silent Test Mode, a new feature allowing administrators to perform large-scale eCDN (Enterprise Content Delivery Network) tests. This mode enables validation of eCDN configurations across an entire network with real user profiles and devices in a full simulation, minimizing the risk of impacting the viewer experience. During the test, live stream clients collect real-world data and statistics on eCDN performance while users stream media directly from Google's servers, ensuring no disruption. Admins can also schedule workload scripts to run in the background for iterative testing without requiring live streams.

Google Meet introduces automated compliance recording and transcripts for regulated users to meet strict regulatory archiving requirements.

Google Meet Compliance Recording is a new feature for administrators to automatically record meetings and capture transcripts for specific users or groups requiring regulatory monitoring. This helps financial firms comply with communication retention and supervision rules mandated by regulatory bodies like SEC, FINRA, and CFTC. The recordings and transcripts are stored in WORM compliant Google Cloud Storage, ensuring immutable records and allowing regulated entities to use collaboration features that were previously disabled due to compliance rules.

Google Meet introduces new live streaming access controls, enabling external guests and targeted internal viewing.

Google Meet is introducing additional access controls for live streams, allowing hosts to decide who can view them. This update enables live streams to reach a wider audience for events like town halls and webinars, supporting mixed internal/external audiences and granular control for restricted internal broadcasts. Hosts can now invite external users to join live streams with their Google Account and can also limit in-domain access to specific users or groups. These new controls are accessible via an opt-in "Adaptive" meeting type setting.

Google Meet live stream viewers can now select their own preferred language for translated captions on mobile devices.

Previously, Meet live streams on mobile had a single caption language chosen by the host. With this update, viewers can independently choose and change their preferred language for translated captions during a live stream, improving understanding and engagement. This feature helps overcome language barriers during presentations and events.

Meet audit events for live stream viewers now include extended quality metrics.

Meet audit events for live stream viewers have been enhanced to include an extended set of quality metrics. These new metrics offer administrators deeper insights into the perceived quality of live streams by viewers, aiding in the identification of potential network configuration issues. This enhancement aims to improve the overall live streaming experience by providing actionable data for network adjustments.

New Google Meet links are now generated when changing the recurrence or start time of recurring Google Calendar events for 'This and following events'.

Previously, when users modified the start time or recurrence of recurring Google Calendar events and applied the change to 'This and following events,' the remaining events used the original Google Meet link. Moving forward, when users make such modifications, the remaining events will automatically generate a new, unique Meet link. The original event series will keep the original Meet link. This change ensures each new recurring event series gets its own distinct and secure Meet link, preventing the unintentional reuse of meeting links across separate Calendar events and enhancing meeting privacy.

Google Meet users now have access to the full emoji library for reactions.

Google Meet users now have access to the full emoji library for reactions in Google Meet. Reactions allow users to engage with meeting content, share meaningful feedback or praise, and celebrate company culture using a wider range of emojis.

Google Meet in-meeting messages will now be powered by and available in Google Chat, enabling continued conversations after meetings.

Starting November 10, 2025, Google Meet in-meeting messages will be integrated with Google Chat. This enhancement allows meeting attendees to continue discussions, share emojis, images, and files directly within Google Meet, with all content consolidated into Google Chat for easy post-meeting access to resources and conversation history. This aims to improve post-meeting follow-through and team productivity.

Google Meet introduces waiting rooms for hosts to control participant entry and manage meetings more effectively.

Google Meet is introducing a new waiting room feature that provides hosts and co-hosts with greater control over meeting entry. This feature allows participants to join a waiting room before entering the main call, enabling hosts to admit or deny entry, send one-way announcements, and even move existing participants back to the waiting room. This is designed to prevent interruptions, allow hosts to prepare, and ensure smoother, more productive discussions, especially useful for scenarios like board meetings or interviews.

Ask Gemini in Google Meet is rolling out to Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus domains, providing AI assistance for meeting summaries, key takeaways, and catching up on discussions.

The 'Ask Gemini in Meet' feature is now rolling out to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus domains. This update brings the power of Gemini directly into Google Meet, acting as a personal assistant to enhance meeting productivity. Users can leverage Ask Gemini to summarize ongoing discussions, get recaps of what was said, identify key takeaways, decisions, and action items, and even catch up on missed content if they joined late and Gemini-powered note-taking was enabled. Interactions with Ask Gemini are private to the user, and it generates answers by referring to meeting captions, user-permitted Google Workspace resources, and public web content. Caption data is not stored post-meeting, and it does not generate meeting recordings or transcripts. Currently, only English meetings are supported, with more languages to follow. Ask Gemini in Meet is on by default but can be managed by meeting hosts and admins.

Google Meet introduces 12 new AI-powered makeup looks.

Google Meet is expanding its video touch-up feature with 12 new AI-powered studio makeup looks. These options range from professional to expressive, and the AI ensures the makeup remains seamless and natural-looking during movements like sipping coffee or touching the face, allowing users to better express their personal style during video calls.

Google Meet live captions now support Cantonese.

Google Meet is adding support for Cantonese to its live caption feature, allowing users to view real-time text of what is being spoken in meetings. This enhancement improves accessibility and inclusion for Cantonese-speaking users by ensuring discussions, presentations, and training sessions are fully understood, regardless of hearing ability or connectivity.

Ability to set timers in Google Meet on the web.

Google Meet is introducing a new feature that allows users to set timers during web meetings. This tool, managed by hosts/co-hosts (or anyone if host controls are off), will be visible to all participants and can be paused or canceled. Timers aim to enhance meeting focus, time management, and equitable participation by providing a shared visual time reference, ultimately structuring meetings and boosting productivity.

Event organizers can now enable the Gemini-powered "Take notes for me" feature directly from Google Calendar when scheduling or preparing a meeting in Google Meet.

Google Workspace is introducing an enhancement to the Gemini-powered "Take notes for me" feature, allowing event organizers to activate it directly within Google Calendar. This integration simplifies the process of ensuring that meeting notes are automatically generated and shared in Google Meet, freeing participants to fully engage in discussions. The feature aims to provide comprehensive notes for critical meetings without requiring manual activation once the meeting starts.