Google Meet gets far more advanced and dynamic grid layout options

Google Meet is getting a significant overhaul, specifically targeting the challenges of hybrid meetings. This latest update introduces a redesigned layout grid experience, aiming to improve both visual clarity and functional efficiency for all users, whether they’re joining remotely or from a conference room.

One of the key features is Dynamic Layouts. This includes “portrait tiles” that prioritize faces by intelligently cropping out unnecessary background video. The system also optimizes tile placement to minimize wasted space, and introduces a refreshed visual design with color-sampled tile theming for those with their cameras off.

For those in rooms where dynamic tiles are not active, room tiles are enlarged. Users also gain more flexibility over tile cropping, including their own self-view, and the pin limit has been doubled from three to six.

Dynamic Tiles further enhance the in-room experience. For meetings with Google Meet hardware, up to three participants in a conference room can now have individual video tiles. The system uses AI-enabled active-speaker detection to highlight the current speaker’s tile, without requiring any special hardware. Other participants can then pin these tiles, just like any other video feed.

To ensure everyone is represented accurately, Google has also introduced Face Match. When Dynamic Tiles are in use, participants joining via Companion Mode on the web can associate their name with their face. This ensures their tile is correctly labeled, creating a consistent experience regardless of whether they’re in the room or joining remotely.

These enhancements address a primary issue in hybrid work: the difficulty remote participants have in seeing and identifying those in the room. By dynamically allocating space based on the presented content and user preferences, Google Meet will help to create a more inclusive and efficient meeting environment. Here are some additional details to keep in mind:

• Dynamic Layouts:
  • Legacy layouts remain available for those who prefer them.
  • Users have greater control over their self-view appearance, with settings that persist across meetings.
  • Automatic framing improvements ensure optimal web user framing, even with custom backgrounds.
  • Users can prevent their video from being cropped by selecting “Show my full video to others” from the self-view menu.
• Dynamic Tiles:
  • These work for up to three in-room participants.
  • The system will automatically switch to a room view if more than three people are detected, if participants are too close, or if excessive movement is detected.
  • Initially, this is available for ChromeOS-based room devices, with AOSP (Android) support planned for the future.
  • Interop mode is not supported.
• Face Match:
  • This feature is available for any Companion Mode web user checked into a room using Dynamic Tiles, supporting up to 12 faces.
  • Face Match only associates a name with a face when the user is in view of the room camera.

Further considerations and availability

For administrators, it’s recommended to review the Help Center articles to prepare for these changes, especially if your organization uses Google Meet hardware. Dynamic layouts will be on by default, while dynamic tiles can be configured via device settings. Face match is automatically available when the necessary conditions are met.

End users will find dynamic layouts enabled by default, with the option to switch to legacy layouts. Dynamic tiles can be toggled on or off via the Meet hardware device’s touch controller or TV interface. Face match is accessible through Companion Mode.

Due to the extensive nature of this update, expect a gradual rollout over the next few weeks, with Rapid Release domains seeing changes starting on March 31, 2025, and Scheduled Release domains on April 17, 2025.

Dynamic layouts are available for all Google Meet meetings on the web and via hardware devices, for all Google Workspace customers and personal Google account users. Dynamic tiles and face match require a Google Meet hardware device and associated license.