Earlier this week, Google made a change to how “Hey Google” works, avoiding accidental activations during a meeting. The change was announced on Google’s blog, stating that “Hey Google” voice activation would be disabled during a meeting and ten minutes before it begins. This way, meetings won’t be interrupted as often as they were before. Google also added the voice functionality to more Meet devices, like the Logitech Rally Bar/Mini.
It’s always ‘Hey Google’ and never ‘How is Google?’
“We know “Hey Google” voice control provides an easy and convenient way to join an upcoming meeting, or to help improve accessibility for users. However, we’ve heard from our customers that due to the increase in teams transitioning to hybrid meetings, the “Hey Google” control can unintentionally be triggered during meetings. We hope this improvement helps reduce any accidental disruptions during your calls,” the company said.
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The change is available to all Meet hardware devices, and G Suite Basic and Business customers. Yes, you won’t be able to join a meeting by asking Google to do it for you anymore. But does it matter? No. It takes an extra two seconds to join a meeting regularly.
The change won’t be evident right away, but it won’t take long to arrive either. For now, 29 August is the planned date for the feature’s rollout, though it’ll be a gradual one.