Google Chat has launched a new feature called Huddles, which provides users with quick voice and video meeting capabilities.

Google Chat is rolling out instant voice meetings — similar to Slack's Huddles — that let you quickly switch to a voice or video call from within a chat.

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.”

It has somehow been nearly five years since work from home became such a norm (for obvious reasons) and companies are still competing to be glared at on your screen come 9AM Monday. Often, this involves copying each other's ideas because really how much can you innovate when it comes to work communication?

Google Chat gets closer to taking on Slack all the time. Google rolled out custom sections in Chat not too long ago, and now the app is getting instant-on audio meetings, called H

Google first previewed "huddles," a quick way to start instant audio conversations in Google Chat, in 2023. Huddles are now coming to Google Chat users in select Google Workspace tiers. They are instant-on audio calls that Google says will help "reduce meeting fatigue" for workers.