Google Meet adds ability to view in-meeting chat messages in live streams

Google Meet users rejoice! A new update that adds the ability to see chat messages that are sent by participants who have joined via the meeting link is now making its way to Google Meet users.

The new feature will make it possible for information shared through Meet chat messages, including links, time-keeping messages and more, to be visible to those attending a live stream.

Up until now, in-call chat messages were only visible to hosts, co-hosts, participants and viewers who were in the main meeting. After installing the update, a notification will pop up the next time chat messages are sent during a live stream. Once you click on the notification, a chat panel will open.

Obviously, this feature will not be available to all Google Meet users. The Mountain View company revealed that only the following Google Workspace editions will be able to initiate a live stream and enable this feature: Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Education Plus, and the Teaching & Learning upgrade.

The bad news is this feature will roll out at a much slower pace than usual, according to Google. That’s because we’re nearing the end of the year and there will be a lot of holidays and such.

Even so, all those enrolled in the Rapid Release domains should receive this update sometime during the week of December 5, 2024. The rollout should start on November 18, so don’t even search for the update until then.

On the other hand, customers enrolled in the Scheduled Release domains will have to wait until the end of Q1 2025 to get the update. Google announced that the extended rollout of this Meet update won’t start until January 6, 2025, so there’s quite a lot of waiting involved.