Google Meet will now seemingly no longer exist on select Samsung TVs as the display manufacturer continues to drop various services provided by the search giant.
The loss of Meet comes only a few weeks following the axing of Google Assistant on Samsung TVs, which gave users voice command features for more streamlined control of their TVs.
Spotted by one of SamMobile’s readers, who was given notice of the change on their display, the culling of Google Meet on Samsung TVs is expected to arrive on March 9, 2024. Google Assistant will vanish alongside it 8 days prior, on March 1st, which many believe could be correlated with Google moving its focus to its own Android TV/Google TV platforms.
Say goodbye to Google Meet on Samsung TVs
Google Meet was first added to Samsung TVs back in October 2022 on the display firm’s 2021 and 2022 lineups, in addition to Tizen-based smart monitors. The video chat application would later be added to Samsung’s 2023 TV lineup, as well, but it seems things are about to change.
According to SamMobile, a reader of the site claims that they were alerted of the forthcoming functionality change in a notice in the app explaining its erasure from Samsung TVs come March 9th. SamMobile does not provide an image of this alert, but Samsung has taken down its Google Meet support page, which lends credence to its potential culling.
Still, despite this, neither Google nor Samsung have voiced anything on the nature of these changes, besides its previous announcement at the start of February in regards to the loss of Google Assistant. We’ll update this page if an official announcement by either company is made public.
Google Meet will seemingly still be available to use on Samsung TVs up until March 9th. The app requires the use of a webcam, specifically the Samsung Slim Fit camera, and internet connectivity, allowing similar functionality to that of Zoom except on a conventional display (and select smart monitors).
A Google App-less Samsung TV environment
As already mentioned, Google Meet isn’t the only app provided by the search giant that’s getting removed from Samsung TVs. Not mere weeks prior, Google Assistant was also culled from its TVs, which Samsung claims is “due to a change in Google’s policy,” which doesn’t really say much.
Additionally, back in 2021, Google’s Play Movies app was also dropped from Samsung TVs, though this may not have anything to do with the loss of both Meet and Assistant. Thus, the reasoning behind these recent changes still remains murky.
SamMobile posits the loss of Google Meet comes as Google aims to improve upon its Google TV and Android TV platforms. That, however, doesn’t quite explain why Google Assistant didn’t make its way onto Samsung’s 2023 lineup.
The loss of these Google Apps on Samsung TVs could also pertain to Google’s improvements on its large language model (LLM), Gemini (previously called Bard), which is set to see an integration with Google Assistant in March. This integration will supposedly herald far more advanced AI support and allow users easier access to content and answers to queries.
Both Samsung and Google are host to a seemingly positive relationship, given their continued efforts in Project Caviar, a Dolby Vision and Atmos offshoot designed to be open-source, as well as with their upcoming Apple Vision Pro competitor, which is set to leverage VR sensors inspired by bats.
