Google Meet Prepares To Shut The Door On Duo’s Legacy For Good

Remember Google Duo, the company’s video calling platform for consumers, which it merged with Meet in 2022? Google did not completely kill Duo back then; it continued using it in Meet for “legacy calls.” In September 2024, Google updated its support document to reflect that it would soon phase out support for Duo’s legacy calling in Meet entirely. Nearly a year later, Google has provided a more concrete timeline for this.

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The Google Meet app is showing a banner that reads, “Meet calling will replace legacy (Duo) calling in September 2025.” If you are still making legacy calls, Google recommends exporting your call history and video messages, as they will be removed during the transition in September (via 9to5Google).

Currently, Google Meet automatically falls back on the legacy Duo calling experience when the person you are calling has not updated their app. However, come September, Google will upgrade all users to the new Meet experience permanently.

Meet calls offer a superior video call experience compared to legacy Duo calls, with features like live captions, screen sharing, raise your hand, stackable effects, cloud encryption, and more. To enjoy the enhanced calling experience, all users on a call must use the latest version of Meet.

As part of the transition, some legacy Duo features won’t be available in Meet. This includes Family Mode, Moments, and Knock Knock. While features like low light mode, Moments, and data saving mode are also going away, Meet provides alternatives in the form of video lighting adjustment, on-device screenshot, and Meet saver mode.

Nest devices will miss out on enhanced Meet calling

Dropping support for legacy Duo calls won’t impact Android users, but it will affect Nest device owners. Nest devices currently don’t support enhanced Meet calling, with support limited to legacy calls.

Google’s support page says, “If you use your Nest device for legacy calls, you won’t be able to receive the Meet calling update on your mobile device. You can continue to receive legacy calls on your Nest devices and remain in the legacy experience on mobile.” The company did not provide a timeframe for when it would update its Nest devices to support the new Meet calling experience, if at all.