In March, Google Duo added support for Google account linking after months of development. With version 34, the video chatting service is launching another feature that the company has been working on for several months now: screen sharing.
About APK Insight: In this ‘APK Insight’ post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in the case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.
Screen sharing
While Google Hangouts on the web featured screen sharing, the mobile clients never gained a similar functionality. In Duo, it is optimized for phones and could be quite convenient for something like basic tech support or sharing a large video. 9to5Google first enabled this feature last November.
After beginning a call with a user, you will see a new icon above the microphone mute and front/rear camera toggle. Tapping brings up a prompt noting that “Duo will start capturing everything that’s displayed on your screen.” Users will have the option to Cancel, if unintended, or Start now. This warning will appear every time, unless users check the “Don’t show again” option.
Once initiated, users will automatically be taken to their homescreens. A floating pill-shaped controller allows you to quickly pause/resume the screen recording, while the button next to it ends the sharing and reopens the Duo call. When screen sharing is enabled, there an orange outline on your screen, when it’s temporarily paused there is a blue highlight.
Another way to end it is by heading into the notification shade and tapping “Stop sharing.” This feature is fully enabled after installing version 34 of Duo, which is widely rolling out.
Replying to
Video and audio messages will soon pick up the option to directly reply to a received missive. At the moment, messages only let users quickly call the other person after viewing. “Reply” would make this feature more social and less like a voicemail equivalent.
<string name=”clip_reply_button_text”>Reply</string>
Remove from recent contacts
There is a very minor change when holding down a recent contact’s icon and bringing up the menu of options. “Remove from list” has been renamed to “Remove from recent contacts” for clarity.
Dylan contributed to this article
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