What you need to know
- Google has started rolling out a portrait touch-up feature for its Meet app over the weekend.
- The nuanced touch-up feature includes two modes, Subtle and Smoothing, which can be enabled through a toggle.
- The toggle can be turned on or off before or during the video call on Google Meet.
Google Meet for the web has gained a nifty new feature that initially ventured into mobile devices last year. It is dubbed portrait touch-up and promises to enhance users' appearance during or before conference calls.
In the announcement Google Workspace post, the search giant says that the new portrait touch-up can be utilized to lightly touch up the user's appearance before attending (here's a quick how-to-use Meet's virtual green room to check yourself before a call) or during the meeting. The feature seeks to make users feel "comfortable and confident" in their appearance while taking up video conferencing calls.
The portrait touch-up provides two modes of play: subtle and smooth. The former offers light complexion smoothing, under-eye lightning, and eye whitening. On the other hand, Smoothing offers slightly more complexion smoothing next to under-eye lightning and eye whitening.
In the blog post, Google shared a small GIF showcasing how to use the feature during a meeting. The feature can be found in the Appearance section at the top right, next to Backgrounds and Filters. There is a new toggle, which, when enabled, gives users to choose either Subtle or Smoothing mode. Users have to bear in mind that the feature will be turned off by default and should be enabled by the user.
It is encouraging to see Google expanding the touch up feature from mobile devices to the web and catching up to other popular video-conferencing apps that already have such or similar features.
The first rollout of the portrait touch up mode for Google Meet for the web has already begun for those on the Rapid Release domains over the weekend. As Google notes in the announcement post, the extended rollout will be after April 1, 2024.
The feature for Google Meet users will be available to Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, Teaching & Learning Upgrade, Google One, and Google Workspace Individual subscribers.
