Google Meet Restricts Free Video Calls To 60 Minutes: How To Extend Your Calls?

Google Meet has emerged as one of the popular apps for video conferencing and online meetings. The company has made an important announcement regarding the platform. Starting September 30, Google Meet video meetings will be limited to 60 minutes for all free users.

Google Meet Free Calls Restrictions

This means the free version of Google Meet will be limited to no longer than an hour. However, anyone with a Google account can create and host a meeting on Google Meet with up to 100 people - without any time limit.

"We don't have anything to communicate regarding changes to the promo and advanced features expiring. If this changes, we'll be sure to let you know," a Google spokesperson told The Verge. The report further states the limitations also extend to other free features like G Suite and G Suite for Education, with the deadline being September 30.

These free features allowed users to host meeting up to 250 people, the ability to save the meetings to Google Drive, and also live stream up to 100,000 people using a single domain. We've generally seen this type of feature on G Suite, mostly on the enterprise level, which comes at a price. These features are going to be restricted henceforth.

How To Extend The Call Beyond 60 Minutes On Google Meet

With so many users, limiting the video calls to 60 minutes makes sense from a business perspective. Zoom calls are also limited for free users, which is even less than 60 minutes. It would be great if you can wind up your meeting in 60 minutes. But if you're looking for ways to extend your video call on Google Meet, here's a suggestion. Create a new meeting and request the participants to join the new one. This gives you an extended 60 minutes. Or you can also simply create a Google account and access the benefits without any limitations.

Google Meet emerged as an alternative to Zoom, which had multiple security and privacy issues. As the revamped Hangouts, Google Meet featured a refreshed look and brought in many features to compete with Zoom. As online meetings became the new norm during the pandemic and the lockdown, Google Meet surpassed more than 100 million daily participants back in April and May.