Google Meet (Original) on its way out: You will need to delete the app to join a Meet meeting

Google Meet, the video calling app that was formerly known as Duo, has undergone several changes that have caused confusion among its users. One of the issues was that an older app with the name Google Meet already existed before the rebranding, causing more naming conflicts. The confusion surrounding Google Meet's naming is quite understandable. The app formerly known as Hangouts Meet was rebranded as Meet, which has since been merged with Google Duo. The latter replaced Google Hangouts, and to add more complexity, Google Duo has been renamed Meet, while the original Meet has been temporarily named Google Meet (original) for clarity purposes. The confusion surrounding the app's name may have been an attempt by Google to sort out its services and make them clearer for users.

Recently, Google has been notifying users of the original Meet app to uninstall it before joining a meeting on the newer service. This may be the first step in the process of winding down the original Meet to ensure that users of the old app move over to the newer Meet. With the merging of Meet and Duo in 2022 and the upcoming end of support for the original Meet, it seems that Google is consolidating its services to streamline the user experience.

Image by Munsif Vengattil

It is clear that Google is trying to streamline its services and simplify the user experience, but the multiple name changes may have caused more confusion than clarity. Nevertheless, the recent notification from Google to uninstall the original Meet app may be a step towards a more straightforward and unified Meet app that integrates the features of both Meet and Duo.