While Google is going through the unnecessarily complex process of combining both the Meet and Duo apps, it’s now throwing a feature copied from Zoom into the mix. In an update on the Google Workspace blogthe company announced that Google Meet will soon give you the option to unmute by holding down the spacebar and unmute yourself again by releasing it.
If you use Zoom often, this feature may sound a lot like the push-to-talk function — and that’s because it’s essentially the same thing. Zoom has had the feature since at least 2020, and it’s useful when you want to jump in during a meeting but don’t want to be unmuted for long.
Google says it will roll out its own version of the shortcut to all Workspace users on September 9, but it could take up to 15 days to see it. Once it arrives, it won’t be enabled by default, so you’ll need to enable it through Google Meet’s settings.
Confusingly, Google’s efforts to merge Duo and Meet have given us the new Meet app (the one that combines both Duo and Meet), the old Meet (Original) app, and a Duo shortcut that leads to Meet. It really is something only Google can come up with. That said, I am pretty sure the new push-to-talk feature is coming to the new Google Meet app, but it’s still not exactly clear if it’s coming to the Meet (Original) app as well, as Google will eventually discontinue it. The edge contacted Google to see if it could clear things up, but didn’t hear back immediately.