Google Meet Release Notes

We’re introducing the ability for meeting participants to move screen shared content into a standalone window with the “Open in new window” option.

This update gives viewers more flexibility in how they view content during a meeting. By undocking screen shared content—whether it is a presentation, a spreadsheet, or a document—you can move it to a secondary screen or resize it independently. This makes it easier to simultaneously view the screen shared content and participants in the video meeting, helping you stay connected and collaborate more easily.

This feature works for all screen share content types.

Getting started

• Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
• End users: This feature will be ON by default. When viewing shared content in a meeting, select the "Open in new window" option to move the presentation to a new window.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility), starting on February 4, 2026
• Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility), starting on February 23, 2026

Availability

• Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts

Resources

• Google Help: Tips on how to collaborate in a video meeting

As of January 27, 2026, speech translation in Google Meet is no longer restricted to businesses in a limited alpha program; it is now available for Google Workspace customers with select plans. This feature utilizes the technology detailed in our research on real-time speech-to-speech translation to translate spoken language in near-real-time, helping global teams communicate more naturally and reducing the friction of language barriers. Speech translation is already available to users with personal accounts subscribed to Google AI plans.

This launch follows our recent announcement regarding new admin controls, ensuring organizations can configure this capability to best suit their needs.

How it works

Speech translation allows participants to speak in their native language while others hear the translation in theirs. Unlike translated captions, which only display text, speech translation preserves the flow of conversation by creating an audio translation dubbed over the original speech that mimics the speaker’s tone and speaking cadence.

Why it matters

Speech translation is designed to make meetings more inclusive and effective. By preserving the speaker's tone of voice, it makes it easier for participants to distinguish who is speaking, even in group settings. This helps maintain the emotional context and expressiveness of the conversation without the need to constantly read subtitles.

More details

• Language support: At launch, the feature supports bidirectional translation between English and Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and Italian.
• Single language pair per meeting: Currently, only one language pair (e.g., English <-> Spanish) can be active in a meeting at a time.
• Meeting room hardware: Users in conference rooms can hear translations but their own speech will not be translated.
• Mobile support: Speech translation will roll out to the Meet Android and iOS apps in the coming months.
• Ongoing improvements: In the coming months, users can expect visual updates to the user interface, as well as refinements to translation accuracy and nuance.

Limits

Workspace customers will get promotional access to higher usage limits of speech translation for at least 60 days, allowing users to experiment with these features. Per-user usage limits will apply afterward; we’ll provide more information in a future update prior to any changes.

Getting started

• Admins: Speech translation will be ON by default and can be disabled/enabled at the organizational unit (OU) level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Speech translation on or off for Meet.
• End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Speech Translation.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) started on January 27, 2026
• Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 18, 2026

Availability

• Business Standard and Plus
• Enterprise Standard and Plus
• Frontline Plus
• Google AI Pro and Ultra
• Google AI Ultra for Business add-on
• Google AI Pro for Education add-on

Resources

• Google Help: Learn about Speech Translation
• Keyword: How AI made Meet’s language translation possible

New admin settings for Take notes for me sharing

We are introducing two new admin settings to give you more control over how meeting notes generated by "Take notes for me" are shared within your organization. These settings allow you to:

• Set a default sharing value: Choose who should receive access to the Take notes for me document and the recap email by default.
• Restrict host overrides: Decide whether meeting hosts and co-hosts have the ability to change these sharing settings during a meeting.

Previously, sharing settings for Take notes for me were primarily managed by meeting hosts in-call. These updates allow administrators to set defaults and restrictions based on company policies.

Getting started

• Admins: The default sharing selection is “Invited guests in your organization.” You can change this to “All invited guests” or “The host and co-hosts.” The setting to “Allow hosts to change who notes are shared to” is ON by default. When toggled OFF, hosts cannot change the sharing level, and the default value you select will be enforced. Visit the Help Center to learn more about letting Google Meet AI take notes for your users.
• End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about Take notes for me in Google Meet.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 26, 2026

Availability

• Business Standard and Plus
• Enterprise Standard and Plus
• Frontline Plus
• Google AI Pro for Education

Resources

• Google Help: Take notes for me in Google Meet

Availability

In September 2025, we launched Ask Gemini in Meet, which brings the power of Gemini into your organization’s meetings. Today, we’re excited to announce we’re making the feature more broadly available to:

• Workspace Business Standard customers - Ask Gemini in Meet is currently available to Enterprise customers, and starting in late January, the experience will become available to Business Standard domains as well.
• An additional seven languages - Ask Gemini in Meet is currently available in English only. Beginning in early February, it will become available in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. The feature supports one language at a time; multiple languages spoken in the same meeting aren't currently supported. More languages will become available in the future.
• Users on mobile - Also starting in February, Ask Gemini in Meet will become available on the Google Meet mobile app. To access it, tap on the Gemini icon in the top right corner during a meeting.

As a reminder, you use Ask Gemini in Meet to:

• Get a quick brief on the goals and topics for the meeting you’re in
• List key takeaways, decisions, and action items mentioned in the meeting
• Catch up on what you missed if you joined late (as long as Take Notes for Me was enabled)

Getting started

• Admins: These features will be on by default for organizations with Ask Gemini in Meet enabled. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Ask Gemini in Meet on or off.
• End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Ask Gemini in Meet.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains
  • Expansion to Business Standard: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 26, 2026
  • Additional seven languages: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 2, 2026
  • Meet mobile app: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 9, 2026

Resources

• Google Workspace Updates Blog: Ask Gemini in Meet: Your Personal Meeting Assistant
• Google Help: Ask Gemini in Meet
• Google Help: Turn Ask Gemini on or off

Admins can now access usage metrics for Google Meet within the organization-level Gemini reports dashboard, in the “Gemini usage per interaction” section. This update gives you visibility into the value your organization derives from Gemini in Meet.

Specifically, the reported metrics include:

• Usage: The number of times where Gemini was actively used in meetings, such as usage for features like “Take notes for me” or “Ask Gemini in Meet”
• Users: The number of unique users who actively used Gemini in meetings

Visit the Help Center for more information on active usage.

This update also ensures greater accuracy in active usage metrics for Google Meet. Given this, you may see updated metrics reported for 28D active users and overall usage of Meet.

Getting started

• Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Gemini reports.
• End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Available now

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

• Business Starter, Standard, and Plus
• Enterprise Starter, Standard, and Plus
• Essentials Starter, Enterprise Essentials, and Enterprise Essentials Plus
• Frontline Starter, Standard, Plus
• Individual

Also available to:

• Google AI Pro and Ultra
• Google AI Ultra for Business add-on
• Google AI Pro for Education add-on

Resources

• Gemini Reports Dashboard Help

Automatic room check-in via ultrasound proximity detection

To simplify the process of joining meetings for those using companion mode on a phone or tablet within a conference room, we're introducing automatic room check-in via ultrasound proximity detection. To automatically check you in, the green room uses your phone or tablet’s microphone to detect an ultrasound signal from the conference room hardware, streamlining the process and eliminating unnecessary steps. This feature is available on Android and iOS devices.

Why it’s important

To simplify joining meetings from a conference room and prevent disruptive audio feedback, Google Meet now intelligently guides you to the best joining option.

Meet intelligently knows when you are in a room using an ultrasonic signal, and highlights the “Use Companion mode” button before you even join the call. This wayfinding feature helps ensure a seamless, echo-free start to your meeting. When you join using the highlighted “Companion mode” button, you will also be automatically checked into the correct room.

Additional details

• Minimum Android build required:
  • Meet: 336.0. (Android Settings > Apps > Meet > [App Info > Version])
  • Gmail: 2025.12.01. (Android Settings > Apps > Gmail > [App Info > Version])
• Minimum iOS build required:
  • Meet: 336.0. (Meet > Settings -> About, terms, and privacy > Version)
  • Gmail: 6.0.251201. (Settings > About Gmail > Version)

Getting started

• Admins:
  Proximity detection is on by default and can be enabled or disabled at the room level. Visit the Help Center to
  learn more about turning proximity detection on or off.
• End users:
  The Companion mode entry point will be highlighted in the greenroom when the proximity detection signal is detected. After joining a meeting in Companion mode, the user will be automatically checked into the room. If proximity check-in isn’t working, visit the Help Center for troubleshooting tips. Users can still check in manually after joining the call.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 13, 2026
• Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 2, 2026

Availability

• Available to all Google Workspace customers, and Workspace Individual subscribers

Resources

• Google Workspace Admin Help:
  Turn proximity detection on or off
• Google Help:
  Use Proximity Detection with Google Meet

We’re introducing a new toggle that lets users choose whether they want to have “Take notes for me” start automatically any time they are hosting a meeting.
Previously, meeting hosts had to manually enable “Take notes for me” when they scheduled a call. Hosts and select participants could also enable the experience during a call. With this update, users can choose to enable this feature any time they host meetings.
This new toggle is OFF by default. Users can choose to enable or disable it at any time. There are also no changes for hosts or select participants to turn meeting notes off at any time during a meeting.

Getting started

• Admins: Admins can enable or disable AI note-taking for their end users.
• End users: This feature will be OFF by default. Users can enable or disable it at any time in their Google Meet settings.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 8, 2026
• Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on January 22, 2026

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

• Business Standard and Plus
• Enterprise Standard and Plus
• Google AI Pro for Education
• Frontline Plus

Resources

• Google Help: Take notes for me in Google Meet

Google Meet Speech Translation

Google Meet Speech Translation allows translation in near-real time, bridging language barriers across users and organizations. The feature is currently available in alpha but will launch more broadly in beta on January 27, 2026.

Starting today, admins will see a setting to control this feature in the Admin console under Meet service settings > Gemini settings. It will be ON by default and can be disabled at the OU level.

A few important things to note:

• The feature is only available if the Gemini for Meet admin setting has been enabled.
• If a user turns on translation, everyone in that meeting will see that translation is being used.
• Users cannot force other users to be translated or to hear translations.
• The feature will remain in beta, meaning that feature availability and translation quality may vary.
• See our blog post to learn more about the translation technology behind the feature.

Speech translation admin setting

Enabling Speech translation in Meet

Note that these admin settings do not affect users participating in the current alpha program.

Rollout pace

Admin setting

• Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 7, 2026

End user feature

• Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 27, 2026
• Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on February 18, 2026

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

• Business Plus
• Enterprise Plus
• Frontline Plus

Also available to:

• Google AI Pro and Ultra
• Google AI Ultra for Business add-on
• Google AI Pro for Education add-on

Resources

• Google Help: Learn about Speech Translation
• Keyword: How AI made Meet’s language translation possible