Google integrates video calling app into Pixel phone app

Google will integrate its own Duo app into the phone app of its Pixel phones and Android One devices. The intention is that this will make it easier to call contacts via a video connection. The app will not yet be included in the phone app for all Android devices.

If providers support ViLTE, the standard for video calling over 4G, then you can also do that from the phone app of the Google phones, the search giant says. Few providers support ViLTE on their own network, unlike the more popular VoLTE – Voice over LTE.

At a later date, it should be possible to switch from a voice-only call to a Duo call with video at the touch of a button, but this is not yet possible. Duo only appears in the Phone app on Android One and Pixel phones, because Google makes those applications. The phone apps on devices from Samsung and Huawei, for example, are managed by those manufacturers themselves and Google therefore has no control over that.

Google released Duo last year as a replacement for video calling via its own Hangouts app, among other things. Duo should make video calling easier and better. Duo has between one hundred and five hundred million installs and nearly 900,000 reviews on the Play Store. It is unknown how many active users the app has.