Google brings back Duo as Meet transformation is confusing

Google's plan to consolidate its communication services into Meet was supposed to (finally) make things more straightforward. It was meant to bring some sense and order to a company that has always overthought these things and made them confusing to an awe-inspiring degree. Earlier this month, the company rebranded its Duo video chat app as Meet and brought back Meet features. That left the original Meet app, which will be phased out, with a new name, "Meet (Original)". He was also an all-time great starter.

But apparently, not all customers have been happy with Duo's sudden identity change. With the latest update to the Meet app for Android, Google has brought back the original Duo icon and name as a separate shortcut that appears in the app launcher. Tapping Duo opens Google Meet. Now you can access the same app in two ways.

Google told 9to5Google and Droid Life that it made this move intentionally so users could launch Meet by searching for "Duo," just as they had before the name was changed. But the fact that this was necessary again points to a company that has lost the thread of strategy around these services.

The Duo shortcut can help make the transition easier. Still, it also opens the door for confusion, especially when Google tells everyone to "look for the Meet name and icon as your only app for video calls and meetings." That's not exactly the case anymore. So we are back to two icons and two names for the same app. And if you open the multitasking view after launching Meet via the Duo shortcut, you will see the Duo icon at the top like this: