In what is the best case of déjà vu, Google has extended access to up to 24-hour long calls on its videoconferencing app – Meet – once again.
This time the access will be available all through June 2021. There is one caveat though, with it only applying to those users with a Gmail account, which you should already have if you’re a part of the Google ecosystem, along with it being fairly easy to setup one up, even if it is just to take advantage of the offer.
While Zoom and Microsoft Teams appear to be more popular among the myriad videoconferencing apps out there, this latest extension won’t do any harm for Google’s numbers.
The reason for the extension is, of course, the continued fight against the spread of COVID-19 across the globe, with most countries having some sort of lockdown in place and businesses enforcing work from home policies where possible.
Initially announced last year during the first few weeks of COVID-19’s pandemic status, Google opted to waive the 60-minute long call limit on the free version of the app. It planned to reinstate in in September of 2020, then pushed it back to March of this year, before today’s new extension until the end of June.
Hopefully a few more extensions are on the way as we continue to fight COVID-19 and contend with remote working.
We’re continuing unlimited #GoogleMeet calls (up to 24 hours) in the free version through June 2021 for Gmail accounts → https://t.co/fqBTmoNPBW pic.twitter.com/Ax0fmbRvqr
— Google Workspace (@GoogleWorkspace) March 30, 2021