Google in the blog post published on Tuesday, noted that it's Duo app is adding nearly 10 million new users per week, while in many countries, the call minutes on the app "have increased by more than ten-fold." Keeping this surge of users in mind, Google has announced that it is improving video quality with the company's latest "AV1 (AO Media Video 1) video codec technology" and is increasing the overall security of the app. Google claimed that AV1 technology improves the video quality "even on very low bandwidth connections." It is unclear when this new update will be rolled out.
Google Duo has several new features planned for its release pipeline. The video calling app will get the features over the next few weeks, Google announced. As per the company, the updates are coming as an increasing number of users are using the video calling app amid the corona virus pandemic. Google in a blog post highlighted that Duo is adding a snapshot feature, called Duo Moments, that will allow users to take screenshots during a video call. The video calling app will also increase the number of participants allowed during a group video call. Currently, a maximum of 12 people can use the group call feature.
To enable Duo Moments, Android users need to go to Settings > Call settings > turn on Google Moments. iPhone and iPad users can enable the feature by going to Settings > turn on Google Moments. The tech giant added that this feature is not yet available on group video calls.
Speaking of group video calls, Google also claimed that Duo will soon let more participants join a group call. Google, however,has not mentioned whether this will be applicable to audio group calls. At the moment, Google allows 12 participants during a group video and audio call.