Google Chat Gets Video Messaging and Other New Capabilities

Google has announced new Workspace updates for its messaging platform Google Chat, which is primarily available to all users via Gmail. These features, which include video messaging capability, are aimed at improving the communication between users, saving time and making it more effective. The company also builds upon the voice messaging feature that it introduced earlier this year on Google Chat by taking it a step further with added capabilities.

Video Messages

In a Workspace blog, Google highlighted the introduction of video messaging capability in Google Chat and revealed some of its real-world use cases. It can be used by customer support or sales team members for sharing video updates about new features or account changes, the company says. It is also claimed to come in handy for sharing company-wide updates or a proxy for a live meeting that was missed by members.

Like any other chat message, this feature can be used in direct messages (DMs), group DMs, and spaces, and can be interacted with by quoting, replying or reacting. Messages sent or received will be stored in the Media section of the Shared tab.

However, the video messaging feature has certain limitations, the most notable of which is its availability. As per Google, video messaging in Google Chat is not available on ChromeOS, Linux, and Firefox. While users can receive them on all platforms, they can only be sent on the web. This feature is not available on mobile at the moment.

Voice Message Transcriptions

In a subsequent blog post, Google also announced the rollout of transcription capabilities for voice messages on Google Chat. Following its introduction, users will now see automatic transcriptions of voice messages in Chat on the web and mobile. It can be viewed by tapping on the new View transcript option which appears beneath the voice message. Alternatively, users can also choose to hide transcripts.

Google says voice message transcripts are treated as readable texts for screen readers. It will adhere to the device’s language settings.