Google Duo Group Calls Invite Links Feature Is Now Live

Despite having been reported for already lax security practices last year, Zoom's popularity still skyrocketed in the past few months for one simple reason. It was dead easy to use and almost anyone can easily join a group video conference with very little preparation beforehand. In light of Zoom's many scandals, a whole bunch of new and old services has risen up to the challenge of providing a better but still easy solution and Google Duo is the latest to open wide the doors with a simple link you can share to those you want to invite to your group call.

Sharing a link is one of the easiest ways to get people to join a group call, even better if they don't need to register for anything. Google doesn't waive the latter for Duo but it promised last month that it will at least make inviting people easier. It took a while but that promise is finally rolling out today.

When you make a group call with at least one other person, you immediately get shown a link you can share via Android's sharing framework or copy and paste manually somewhere else. If you already have a group chat going on, you can still see your group's unique link from the app's overflow menu. Those receiving the link can simply tap on it to jump in, though they will first see who's in the room before confirming their attendance.

Along with the expansion of the maximum group call limit to 32, Google Duo is shaping up to be the less formal and more social counterpart to Google's other, "all-business" Google Meet. The link invitation system also makes it easier for family members and friends to join the group with minimum fuss and hand-holding.

At the moment, this feature only works on Google Duo for mobile, which is to be expected since the Web version doesn't support group calls yet. That is still one shortcoming that Duo needs to address quickly in this day and age of video calls.