Google Duo Is Back, Kind of, and It Launches One of Two Apps Called Google Meet ⇥ 9to5google.com

You may remember when Google announced in June that it was adding Google Meet features to Google Duo, then renaming the app Google Meet, while preserving its original Google Meet app for some time. It turns out that strategy was not as easy to understand as you might think.

Abner Li, 9to5Google:

At the start of August, an update (172) started rolling out that replaced the blue Duo icon and introduced the four-colored Meet version. After updating and opening the app, Duo disappears from the launcher.

Version 173 today brings back the Google Duo icon for some reason. As such, you have both the Duo and Meet logos in your app drawer, with both working to launch the new unified Meet-Duo experience.

This is as clear as Google’s messaging strategy has ever been. The thing I have learned from this is that Google thinks launching Meet when users type “Duo” in the search field is some kind of insurmountable technical obstacles.