Google Meet calls with three or more participants - any group video conference, basically - is now limited to 60 minutes for free users with personal Gmail accounts. In view of the pandemic, Google had lifted this cap back in September 2020, but has now decided to reinstate it.

Over the past year, free Google Meet users with personal accounts have been able to take advantage of group calls on the platform without a time limit. Google now notes that this is no longer the case as of July 1st. The tech giant originally planned to enforce the time limit in September 2020 and then delayed it to March 2021.

Google then extended the deadline to March 31st but has not extended the deadline this time, as noted by those over at 9To5Google.

 
“Tip: At 55 minutes, everyone gets a notification that the call is about to end. To extend the call, the host can upgrade their Google account. Otherwise, the call will end at 60 minutes,” Google outlines.

It’s worth noting that one-on-one calls are still able to run for up to 24 hours for free users. Unfortunately, the group video call limitation may be a hurdle for those who are used to using Google Meet for virtual hangouts with friends and family.