Google Meet to Enforce 60-Minute Time Limit on Group Video Calls for Free Users

Google Workspace users will now have to upgrade to a paid account to host unlimited group video calls with three or more participants. Google Meet has updated its guidelines that mention that free Gmail users can now host a group call with three or more participants for only 60 minutes at a stretch. The updated guidelines are also mentioned on the Google Meet Help website. "At 55 minutes, everyone gets a notification that the call is about to end. To extend the call, the host can upgrade their Google account. Otherwise, the call will end at 60 minutes," the guidelines say.

As mentioned, the change in guidelines for Google Meet doesn't affect users on one-on-one calls but only users on group calls. And although creating a new Google Meet link is an easy task, it just adds another step to prolong the conversation.

When Google Meet became available for all users in April 2020, Google announced that it will limit meeting times to 60 minutes from September 2020. However, Google then extended the deadline for unlimited free calls to March and finally the latest deadline was announced to be June 30.

The Google Meet Help website also mentions an upgrade for users if they wish to participate in unlimited group calls. The upgrade, Google Workspace Individual tier, has just been announced for $9.99 per month in the US.