The upgrade from 720p is only available for some Workplace accounts
Back in February, Google added 360-degree video backgrounds to Google Meet for mobile, giving you the ability to convince your coworkers you’re on the beach or working outside when you’re actually pantless and still in bed. Today, it’s adding another video improvement to the service, this time improving the resolution of your call.
Starting today, select Google Workplace users will be able to set the video resolution of their calls to 1080p rather than 720p. While that includes Google One subscribers with 2TB or more of storage space, this move is primarily focused at Business and Enterprise users, and won’t be available on regular, personal Google accounts.
For the Google Meet feature to work you’ll, of course, need to be using a device with a 1080p camera. It’s off by default, but eligible users will have the option to turn it on when they enter a meeting, courtesy of an on-screen message.
Mostly, though, we’re just bummed about how limited Google is making this available. You won’t be able to use 1080p on Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Education Fundamentals accounts, and plenty more. It’s worth noting that Microsoft Teams and Zoom also offer 1080p, but neither do by default and the feature is also available only in certain scenarios on both platforms so while it sucks some folks are getting left out, that’s also pretty much par for the course.
Beyond allowing 1080p video when you’ve got bandwidth to spare, Google also added a new feature for users in low-bandwidth situations earlier this month. Last week, Google announced the option for you to see no video stream at all during a Google Meet call. If you’re out on the road when it’s time for a meeting, or you just don’t want to look at your coworkers, you can turn off the video feeds of your colleagues and just listen to audio, without anyone knowing you’ve decided to turn off their camera.
Support for 1080p video starts rolling out to the first eligible users today, and will gradually spread to more and more of them through May 4.