Stay centered at all times
Google has pledged to add functionality to Meet as it slowly merges the platform with its one-to-one video calling app, Google Duo. After all, it is one of the most widely used video conferencing apps for both work and school. For one thing, Meet has given several co-hosts new features to make calling easier. Now it wants to keep you center stage at all times with a new auto-framing feature for calls to make you more visible to other attendants.
As announced by Google at its Cloud Next ’22 event and further explained in a blog post, the company will be rolling out a new auto-framing feature over the next few days for business users. Whenever you’re on a video call and look off-center on your camera, Google Meet will automatically crop your video feed to make you look centered.
Auto-framing will only happen once during the call, so the camera won’t constantly track you or reframe on its own, unlike Apple’s Center Stage feature – Google says it’s is to avoid any other distractions from taking the camera. focus away from yourself. However, you can manually crop your video at any time during the call by going to your settings.
The feature has started rolling out and will continue to do so over the next month, depending on whether you’re on a fast-release or scheduled-release domain. Those on most Google Workspace Business, Education and Enterprise plans are eligible for the feature – the exceptions being Workplace Essentials, Business Starter, Education Fundamentals, Frontline and Nonprofits as well as former G Suite customers and, of course, users normal. The odd exception to the expected exception is that Google One subscribers on a plan with 2TB or more of storage will have access to auto-framing — go figure.
Once deployed, the feature will be disabled by default – you will need to manually enable it each time it lands for you.
It can be a nice addition to your next business video call, so if you have an eligible account, keep an eye out for it.