Google Meet rolls out to Android Auto with a ridiculous restriction

At the start of April, Google introduced and launched Google Meet for CarPlay, making it simpler and safer for customers to affix conferences and calls whereas behind the wheel. Now, that very same expertise is rolling out to Android Auto — albeit with a baffling limitation: it does not assist work accounts.

The beginning of Google Meet’s Android Auto rollout was first noticed by the oldsters at Android Authority, when considered one of their workforce members obtained a pop-up within the app that learn, “Meet is now accessible on Android Auto,” which linked to a support document with detailed info on the way it works.

The Android Auto model of Google Meet works just about the identical because the CarPlay model. You may view all of your scheduled conferences proper out of your automotive’s dashboard, and when you choose one, you possibly can bounce in by tapping be a part of.

When you be a part of a name, it skips the standard pre-call display screen and drops you straight into the assembly together with your video turned off. Google says your microphone could or will not be robotically muted as properly, relying on how massive the assembly is.

For security causes, your in-meeting controls are very restricted — you possibly can mute your microphone or go away the decision, and that is about it. Different options, like chat or polls, aren’t accessible except you safely park and swap to your telephone.

The baffling limitation

No work account assist appears to defeat the aim

Whereas the Android Auto model of Google Meet sounds precisely like what you’d count on — particularly given the mandatory security restrictions — there’s one obtrusive limitation that has nothing to do with security, which I discussed earlier: it does not assist work accounts. Baffling, proper?

Here is what Google has to say about it:

“Work profile accounts aren’t supported in Meet on Android Auto. Energetic calls will nonetheless seem in your show however upcoming conferences and name historical past won’t present.”

So, in case you be a part of a gathering in your telephone utilizing your work Google account, you possibly can nonetheless view it in your automotive’s dashboard, however you possibly can’t view or be a part of any work conferences by means of Android Auto.

I do know a handful of people that use private Google accounts for conferences, so in that sense, it is nonetheless helpful. However the overwhelming majority depend on Google Meet by means of their work accounts as a result of they should. For private calls, they’re much more possible to make use of apps like WhatsApp or Discord. That’s why the dearth of labor account assist on Android Auto appears like a significant oversight to me, and it is unclear whether or not Google plans to handle it.

Moreover, what makes it even stranger is that, on the CarPlay facet, Google says Meet is “accessible to all Google Workspace prospects, Workspace Particular person subscribers, and customers with private Google accounts.” So once more, it is baffling that the Android Auto model does not provide the identical assist.

All in all, in case you’re consistently on the go and juggling conferences, having Google Meet on each CarPlay and Android Auto is little question helpful. However limiting the Android Auto model of Meet to private accounts solely is an actual head-scratcher and, for my part, form of undermines its complete level.