Google Meet adds gesture recognition to video calls

Google Meet can now recognize when your physical hand is raised on camera during group video calls and alert the host. This means you don’t have to fiddle with clicking the “hand raise” button on the screen and accidentally send a clapping emoji to everyone in the call (I speak from experience).

For it to work, you’ll need to enable it in your Google Meet settings by going to More options > Reactions > Hand Raise Gesture. Google says your camera will need to be on and your hand needs to be visible to the camera, away from your face and body — as shown in the video above.

If you’re the active speaker, the gesture detection will not be triggered. However, it will be enabled again when you’re no longer talking, so you can ask another question.

The feature is rolling out now across Google Workspace for business and education.