Google Brings Video Chat Service Duo to Web Users in the US

• Google is now offering a web version of its video calling app Duo in the US.
• There is no official word on when the web version will make it to other regions in the world.
• The web version is accessible only to users with verified phone numbers.

Google’s Duo was released as a direct competitor to Apple’s Facetime. However, it is still fairly limited in nature when compared to its competition. The app has been available on iOS, Android and Chrome OS for quite some time and it is finally making its way to web users.

Duo is now available for web users but for US users only. Google is likely to expand its availability to other countries over time. To access the video calling app on your web browser simply head to duo.google.com and login to your Google account. Once logged in, users will be able to see their contact list. However, before users can make calls, they need to verify their phone numbers to access the service.

There is currently no word on when Google will be bringing the web version of Duo outside of the US. Non-US citizens attempting to log in to the web version of the app are greeted with the landing page of the mobile app instead. Duo has been fairly successful since its launch in March 2018 with the app seeing over 1 billion downloads in less than 1 year since its release. However, the number is exaggerated as the app comes pre-installed in current Android devices.

Google has been trying to keep up with the competition with the introduction of group video calling. The limit on the number of group chat members has left users disappointed. There can be a maximum up seven users per chat while Duo’s competitor FaceTime offers group calls amongst 32 users. Group calling is still in testing and Google may increase the maximum number of users per group call at launch.

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