Google to allow hosts to keep participants mics and camera off in Meet

Google is rolling out a new feature in Google Meet that will let meeting hosts turn off participants’ microphones and camera.

“Meeting hosts in Google Meet can now use Audio and Video Lock to turn off the microphones and/or cameras of other participants in the meeting and prevent them from turning them back on until you unlock them, in the main and breakout rooms,” Google said in a blog post.

Earlier this year, the tech giant had announced the ability for meeting hosts to mute everyone all at once in Google Meet on desktops/laptop devices.

Prevent unmuting

The new Audio and Video lock feature is meant to make this feature more useful by enabling hosts to prevent participants from unmuting themselves after they are muted.

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“This feature gives meeting hosts more control over their meetings by letting them decide when they want to allow different levels of participation from attendees, for example, to address disruptive participants,” it said.

Updated app versions

Meeting participants using versions of the Android and iOS apps that do not support audio and video locks will be removed from the meeting if the host or co-host turns on either of the locks.

“If they attempt to join a meeting that has either of these locks enabled they will be prompted to update their app or use another device to join the meeting. Turning off audio or video locks will allow these participants to rejoin the meeting,” it further explained.

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The feature is supported on Android devices running on Android OS version M or newer and on iOS version 12 or newer. It is supported on the most updated version of Meet or Gmail app.

The audio or video locks, as well as chat and present locks, will be set by the host in the main meeting. These locks will also apply to subsequently launched breakout rooms. Changes made to lock settings in an individual room, however, will not apply to the settings of other breakout rooms or the main meeting once a breakout room is launched.

This feature will be available to all Google Workspace customers, and G Suite Basic and Business customers.