Last year, Google announced that the future of Gmail will see Chat messaging and group Rooms join the existing Meet video calling integration. This is already available to enterprise Workspace users, and Google is now letting personal Gmail accounts get this “integrated workspace.”
Original 4/4: This merger comes as Google wants to make Gmail your new “home for work.” The goal is to let users get everything done in one page without having to keep switching between other tabs. Since you’re likely to have Gmail open on desktop, that’s where Google is integrating everything.
Gmail now has four main sections. “Mail” and “Meet” have been in place for the past few months. “Chat” is where you can message individual and small groups, while “Rooms” — like their Slack equivalents — are dedicated to larger conversations with shared chat, files, and tasks.
This manifests as a bottom bar with four tabs on Android, while the Gmail sidebar on the web is split into four sections. They are shown by default, but can be quickly hidden by clicking the chevron. Tapping a “Chat” opens that conversation in the bottom-right corner of your screen. Rooms open full-screen and replace the default list of messages. As seen below, one feature coming “in the future” is the ability to have picture-in-picture Meet calls in Gmail.
