Highlights:
Google could launch the web version of its video calling app, Duo, in the coming weeks. As per a 9to5Google report, same as Messages for web and Google Allo for the web, the Google Duo app will also soon get a web-interface. The new product is expected to support Google Chrome and other widely used browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Safari. The web app is expected to help expand the user reach and usability of Duo. The web app might also leverage push notifications that are supposed to help notify users of incoming calls and other communications.
While there’s no concrete information as to what features the web app version of Google Duo will launch with, the report suggests that it might include some basic features of the mobile app, like the option to send video messages and the “knock knock” feature. Currently, Google Duo can only be downloaded as an app from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, and is available on Google’s Home Hub smart display. The upcoming web version of the app is speculated to use standard Google account login for authentication, but there could also be a QR-code based login system, considering how the company’s other web apps utilise the same.
Unlike Google’s other shuttered service, Allo, the Duo app seems to be doing rather well. The app has over 1 billion downloads on the Play Store and was previously updated to work on Android tablets and iPads. In an apk teardown, it was found that the app could allow simultaneous multi-device logins. However, when a user receives a call, all the devices on which the user is logged into Duo will ring up. The feature is yet to make its way to the app.
Speaking of Google’s services, the company is poised to soon move Hangout users to Hangouts Chat and Meet. An earlier report about the service said that Google could shut down its Hangouts service by 2020, but Scott Johnston, Google's Real Time Communications' Product Lead, said that this was incorrect. Hangouts won’t really be going away as its users will be upgraded to Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet. Additionally, Johnston said that no decisions have been made about when Hangouts will be shut down.
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