Google Chat is launching huddles, an add-on to Google Meet that allows you to quickly organize calls with colleagues. Google said it would add this feature to Google Chat in a preview version for customers more than a year ago, but we haven’t heard anything about it since. The company says the feature has started rolling out and should be available to all Workspace users by January 6.
As noted last year, this is the same feature as Slack’s Huddles, and moreover, it has the same name. Nowadays, there are not many differences between different office suites, but this feature really takes it to the next level.
To start a chat, simply click the drop-down menu at the top of the chat and select Start Meeting. An invitation to an audio call will appear, which you can turn into a Google Meet-style video chat, with the ability to share the screen “for a more complete meeting experience while multitasking in chat.”
Since last year’s big relaunch, the company has added other features to Chat, such as Gemini, an AI-powered summary, the ability to reply to or tag colleagues, and a voice recording feature. I think I would have liked to have seen most of these features come sooner, but better late than never, I guess.
