Google Meet’s latest feature lets you raise your hand to raise your hand

Google’s latest feature for its Meet video calling platform is meant for those times when you want to raise your hand to speak in a meeting but can’t find the damn button. Instead, the company says you’ll soon be able to raise your actual mitt in front of the webcam, and have Meet raise your digital hand accordingly.

A short GIF of the feature released by Google shows how it looks in practice. Because the camera needs to see your hand, you can’t raise it above your head like an excited school kid. Instead it almost looks like Google’s example is showing their palm to the camera in a “whoa, slow down there buddy” sort of way. But I still think it’s a fun, possibly more natural addition that could help you keep focused on a meeting when you want to contribute, rather than getting distracted by hunting through Meet’s controls.

“To ensure the gesture is detected, make sure your camera is enabled and your hand is visible to the camera, away from your face and body,” Google’s blog post explains, noting that the gesture control is disabled when you’re the active speaker. 

The gesture detection feature is off by default, but can be enabled by going to “More Options” then “Reactions” and selecting “Hand Raise Gesture.” Access is rolling out gradually over the coming weeks to subscribers on a range of Google Workspace business, enterprise, and education plans, but there’s no mention of if or when the feature could become available for people with personal Google accounts.