Google Launches Emoji for Meet, Users Can React In Calls

JAKARTA - Google has just launched emojis on its video conferencing application, Meet. Now, users can send reactions to other members during a call.

The emojis are a new feature called in-meeting reactions. The idea is that users can send one of nine emoji reactions, which will appear in the recipient's window and be visible to everyone in the meeting.

To start, Google introduced hearts, thumbs up, party poppers, applause, joy, amazement, thinking, crying, and thumbs down emojis.

If multiple users send emoji, they will appear as a series on the left side of the screen. To use the function, users can select the smile icon in the Meet control bar, and hover over the bar that appears to select a skin tone for all the emojis.

Google calls it an uninterrupted way to engage and participate in meetings without interrupting the speaker, with skin color best representing a user's identity.

Reactions are enabled by default and can be disabled in the Admin console. This feature is coming January 16th to the web, Meet hardware, and mobile, for all regular and paid users.

However, the feature hasn't arrived on Android yet, Google says it will roll out in the coming weeks.

Launching Engadget, Friday, January 13, another feature arriving in the coming weeks is a 360-degree background. Users on mobile will be able to enter 360-degree backgrounds that shift when the camera is positioned in a different area for a more immersive experience.

Embedded backgrounds can be beaches to start with, then oases, sky cities, temples, mountains, and more. It will be available on mobile for iOS and Android, in regular and paid users.