While their chat application, Allo, announced at the same time has failed to take off before being summarily cancelled, Google’s Duo video conferencing service has been quite well received. It’s about to get a much requested feature though with a report saying a web service will be launched in the coming weeks.
Citing a ‘source familiar with the plans’, 9to5Google says Google is planning on expanding the availability of Duo so that you can access it through the web using at the very least Chrome, and likely other browsers including Firefox and even Safari.
The web client would likely take advantage of browser notifications to tell you when a call is coming in, and they also believe that headline features for Duo including the ‘Knock Knock’ video preview and the ability to leave a video message will also be included in the client.
Google has done a lot of work behind the scenes on Duo, moving from a service which used only your phone number for credentials, to including your Google account as well making a move to a web service a natural progression. The connection to your Google account may also do away with the need to use a QR code, as used by Android Messages and previously Allo, to launch the web client unnecessary.
With more than a billion downloads from Google Play and a pretty good track record on all types of connections, Duo has been a pretty decent hit for Google and expanding users options to more devices through the browser makes a lot of sense.
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