According to the company, Google Chat now supports one-on-one voice and video calls within the Gmail app for iOS and Android.
The functionality was first unveiled in September but is now available to anyone with a Google Workspace, G Suite, or personal Google Account until December 6.
Starting calls from within the Gmail app was previously available, but this required sending an invitation to a Google Mate video conference call, which seemed like too much for a one-on-one chat.
In the future, though, conversations with everyone will have a simple phone and video icons in the top right corner that can be used to make calls.
It’s a small change, but it does help Google achieve its goal of making Gmail the center of all its communications services.
According to Google’s article, even if you start a call from within the Google Chat app, you will be sent to the Gmail app. Emails are now just one of the four tabs between Chat, Spaces (Google’s Slack-style messaging service) and Mate in the current Gmail interface, as my colleague Dieter Bohn noticed in September (his video conferencing service).