Google Meet gets a visual upgrade with Dynamic Layouts

As part of its mission to make hybrid meetings feel more human-centric, Google is giving Meet a fresh update with a feature called Dynamic Layouts. This update revamps the visual structure of video calls by focusing on the faces of participants and reducing background distractions, resulting in a cleaner, more connected experience. Want to know about about the latest Google Meet features? Read on!

Google Meet to have a new look with Dynamic Layouts

With Dynamic Layouts, Meet introduces a new Portrait Tile feature that intelligently crops out the excess background around a participant’s face, ensuring the layout looks more personal and less like a collection of disjointed tiles. Google says its updated tile placement logic also helps reduce unused space and optimise the arrangement of participants on screen.

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However, for those who prefer to display their entire video feed, there’s an option to opt out. Simply head to the three-dot menu during a call and select ‘Show my full video to others’ to disable the cropping.

If a user’s camera is turned off, instead of showing a profile photo, Meet will now display a colour-themed tile. This adds visual uniformity and keeps the interface looking clean. Additionally, Google has increased the pin limit from three to six participants, giving users more control over who they want to keep visible during a call. The layout settings also allow switching between the new Auto (Dynamic Layouts) mode and the legacy Tiled view.

Dynamic Tiles and Face Match feature in Google Meet

Google is also introducing Dynamic Tiles, which can detect and individually frame up to three people sitting in the same physical conference room (provided they’re not seated too close together). This is particularly useful for hybrid meetings with in-room participants sharing a single camera.

The AI-driven feature highlights the current speaker automatically, making group conversations easier to follow. When used with Companion Mode, another new feature called Face Match comes into play. It links your face with your name in real-time during calls, helping others easily identify who’s speaking or present in the room.

Google Meet new features: Roll out and availability

The new features in Google Meet began rolling out on March 31 and is available to all users, including those with personal Google accounts and Google Workspace subscriptions. However, to access Dynamic Tiles and Face Match, users will need a supported Google Meet hardware device and an associated license.

While the hardware-specific features may be limited in accessibility, the new Dynamic Layouts are widely available and bring a significant visual upgrade to how meetings look and feel on Google Meet. For more news about all things tech, stay tuned to Unboxed by Croma.