Google Chat’s new huddles make it even more like Teams and Slack

Google Chat is launching huddles, a Google Meet-powered addition that lets you start a quick call with your coworkers. Google said it would add huddles to Google Chat in customer preview over a year ago, but we haven’t heard about it since then. The company says the feature has started rolling out and should reach all Workspace users by January 6th.

As we noted last year, this is the same feature as Slack’s Huddles, using the same exact name. There aren’t a lot of differences between the various office suites these days, but this is really going the extra mile.

To get one going, simply click a dropdown menu at the top of a chat and select “Start a huddle.” That’ll pop open an audio call invite that you can turn into a Google Meet-style video chat, complete with the ability to share your screen “for a fuller meeting experience while multitasking in Chat.”