Google Meet adds filters & fun masks for personal Gmail calls, just like Duo

For the past year or so, Google has primarily focused on catering towards the enterprise video calling market to beat Zoom. Google Meet is now making a push for personal users with a set of fun effects, like filters and masks.

When you’re in a Meet video call on Android or iOS, tap the sparkle in the bottom-right corner of your video feed. This fullscreens your view and slides up an “Effects” sheet. Like on enterprise and education accounts, you get two Blur options and various Backgrounds.

Google Meet is now adding “Styles” like B&W and lens flare, as well as “Filters” to turn your face into a Cat, Dog, purple Elephant, and a slew of other characters. You can swipe endlessly on the bottom carousel or select from new categories that let you quickly jump to a section.

These fun effects are very much in the vein of Google Duo, which has not seen a meaningful update in quite some time. In fact, many of the filters are identical between Google’s two calling applications.

Add cats, astronauts, jellyfish and more to your Meet calls. New filters, masks and effects are now available for Meet on Android and iOS. Try it today → https://t.co/DDSvWFxDG8 pic.twitter.com/hylhsCcUuj

— Google (@Google) July 7, 2021

We reported last August that Google plans to have Meet eventually replace Duo. Today’s addition of fun features that will appeal to users is a step in that direction. It also comes as “unlimited” video calls for free Gmail accounts ended in June.

Meanwhile, like in Duo, there is now a branded “Google Meet” logo in the top-left of your video feed. This appears in the example Google shared today but is not yet live in our brief testing.

These Google Meet filters are already live on Android and iOS — including in the integrated Gmail experience, with the company making no mention of the web experience today. Just be sure to start or join a call from @gmail.com and not a Workspace account that your work or school manages.