How to Use Google Meet on Nest Hub in 2026: A 4-Step Guide

Your Nest Hub Max sits on the table in the living room. You have a department meeting this afternoon, so you naturally say, "Hey Google, join the meeting"—and it tells you that this feature is no longer supported.

Many people only discover this at that moment: they bought a smart display specifically for video calls and meetings, so why is it now only good for weather and music?

In this article, I'll clarify the current situation with Nest Hub and Google Meet, including what still works, what doesn't, and most importantly—how to fill the gap if your meetings need to be recorded.

Why People Get Stuck: Calls and Meetings Are Two Different Things

Google's smart displays have been adjusting features over the years. According to the Google Meet Help Center and subsequent official announcements:

• On Assistant smart displays like Nest Hub Max, joining scheduled Google Meet meetings (via meeting code or link) is no longer available.
• However, one-on-one and group Meet calls can still be made and answered.

In other words, your Nest Hub Max isn't incapable of video calls—it's that "making a call" still works, but "entering a meeting room" is gone.

These are very different things. Making a call means "calling a specific person," while entering a meeting room means "joining a formal meeting with an agenda, participants, and a meeting code."

Note that many online tutorials are outdated and still tell you to enter a meeting code to join—that will fail now.

Step 1: First, Check If Your Device Has a Camera

This is the most common mistake.

Devices that can make Meet video calls (with a camera):

• Google Nest Hub Max
• Lenovo 8-inch/10-inch Smart Display
• JBL Link View
• LG XBOOM AI ThinQ WK9

Not supported:

• First-generation Nest Hub
• Nest Hub (2021, second generation)

These last two don't have cameras and can only be used as speakers. They can answer voice calls, but not video calls. If you have one of these, the video steps below don't apply to you—check the alternatives at the end of the article instead.

Step 2: Understand Which Type of Call You Can Still Make

On Nest Hub Max, these are the two types currently available:

One-on-one calls: Initiate directly to a person or device.
Group calls: Initiated from Meet; according to past numbers from Google's official blog, up to 100 people.

As for "a colleague sends a Google Meet link to the group, and I want to click it on Nest Hub"—that no longer works. You'll need to use your phone or computer.

I usually divide it this way: for casual chats with family and friends, or video calls with elders, Nest Hub is intuitive; for work meetings with agendas, screen sharing, and post-meeting notes, use your computer directly.

Step 3: Make and Answer Calls with Voice Commands

The actual operation is simple—all by voice.

To start a call, say:
"Hey Google, start a meeting"
or "Hey Google, video call [device or contact name]"

When someone calls you, say:
"Hey Google, answer the call" to answer
"Hey Google, decline the call" to decline

To end a call: On Nest Hub Max, you can tap the end call button on the screen or use a voice command.

If you have other Nest speakers or displays in other rooms, you can also ask it to call another device—essentially turning it into a home intercom. This is actually quite useful.

Step 4: Use a Computer for Formal Meetings and Capture the Content

This step is the key point of the entire article.

When a meeting requires joining with a meeting code, screen sharing, or sending out meeting notes afterward, Nest Hub can't help—you'll need to go back to your computer.

But after the meeting on your computer, there's still an unresolved problem: the meeting content doesn't automatically turn into usable data.

A 60-minute meeting can produce tens of thousands of words in a transcript. Afterward, when you need to find "who said the budget number" or "what are the action items," you have to listen again and search manually.

This is what I care about most when testing tools over the years: transcription is just the starting point; whether you can "use it afterward" is the difference.

Tinrec: Turn Meetings into Searchable, Queryable Data

Tinrec is an AI meeting notes and collaboration tool for individuals and teams, available on web, desktop, and mobile.

Its biggest difference from "meeting bots" is how it captures audio. Tinrec's desktop version directly captures your computer's system audio, handling meeting audio from Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, and other platforms played on your computer—without inviting a bot into the meeting as a participant. For those who are pulled into meetings ad hoc and don't want the whole company to see an extra AI account, this difference is significant.

Here's how it works: before the meeting, open Tinrec on your computer, then join the meeting as usual with Google Meet. It listens and transcribes in real time. When the meeting ends, the summary, chapters, key points, and action items are already organized—who is responsible for what and when it's due, no need to rewatch the video.

Even better is the post-meeting Q&A. You can directly ask it "What was the budget cap mentioned in this meeting?" or "What concerns did the client have about the delivery date?" It doesn't just give you keyword search results—it answers based on the meeting content. With real-time translation, you can view mixed Chinese-English meetings in the original, translated, or bilingual format.

For output, besides transcripts, it can generate meeting minutes, reports, and tables, and export to Notion, Google Docs, OneNote, or Dropbox for further processing.

For team use, the team version is a separate team space, not multiple people sharing one account. Meeting data belongs to the team and won't be taken away when members leave; admins can manage roles, seats, sharing permissions, usage analytics, and audit logs, plus an audio recycle bin. It's important to distinguish: roles determine who can manage the team, seats determine who can record, upload, and edit—members without a seat can still view and play team data.

I'll list the pricing honestly: team monthly is USD 29.80 per paid seat per month, annual is USD 199 per paid seat per year (about USD 16.58 per month). The first eligible team trial is 7 days, 1 free seat, and 300 minutes of team shared import quota; paid seats provide 2,000 minutes of team shared import quota per month, and real-time recording under an active team plan is currently not deducted by minutes. For personal use, the free version offers basic quota to try; for short-term intensive use, there's a weekly pass; for long-term, Pro monthly or annual.

Limitations are also clear: it's not a tool that automatically joins all meetings on your calendar—you need to start recording yourself; file imports consume team shared quota; the team version currently has team-level sharing, not fine-grained file-level permissions; accuracy can be affected by recording quality, accents, and multiple people talking over each other—for important content, it's recommended to cross-check with transcript timestamps and the recording.

Who it's for: people who frequently have online meetings, need Chinese and mixed Chinese-English transcripts, need to submit minutes or action items afterward, and want data to stay with the team rather than scattered on individual computers.

Besides Nest Hub, What Are the Alternatives?

Google Meet on phone or computer: The most direct approach—no extra tools, no payment, just enter the meeting code. The downside is it's gone after the meeting—no transcript, no summary, unless you record separately. Suitable for pure discussions where no record is needed.

Otter.ai: A mature English meeting assistant. Basic is free for 300 minutes per month; Pro annual is about USD 8.49 per user per month, including 1,200 minutes per month. If 90% of your meetings are in English, it's a good deal. Note that Chinese meetings are not its focus, while Tinrec puts transcripts, action items, team space, usage, and auditing in one place—more intuitive for Chinese teams.

Granola: Bot-free AI meeting notes. Business is USD 14 per user per month, following a "your own notes plus AI enhancement" approach—very lightweight. But it doesn't save meeting audio and doesn't support uploading existing recording files—if you need to listen back to the original audio or organize old interview recordings, Tinrec supports audio retention and file import, which is a big difference.

Notta: Good multilingual transcription. Free is 120 minutes per month (3 minutes per session max); Pro annual is about USD 8.17 per month, 1,800 minutes per month. If you simply need "file to text plus subtitles," it's sufficient; but for post-transcription AI Q&A, action item extraction, and team knowledge retention, Tinrec is more complete.

Pitfall Guide: 3 Most Common Mistakes When Using Smart Displays for Meetings

Pitfall 1: Thinking you can still join Meet with a meeting code. That's outdated information. The current situation is that joining scheduled meetings is no longer available—only making and answering calls. Check features before buying devices; it's better than regretting after purchase.

Pitfall 2: Thinking the smart display will automatically record for you. It won't. It's a speaker with a camera—no transcript, no summary. If you really need records, you'll need separate tools.

Pitfall 3: Only looking at free quotas and ignoring post-meeting organization. When choosing meeting tools, many people's first reaction is to compare "free minutes." But the real time-consuming part is after the meeting: finding key points, writing minutes, tracking action items. Rather than comparing minutes, think clearly about whether you need "conversion to text" or "organization into something usable."

Conclusion: What Should You Choose?

To sum up in one sentence: Nest Hub is for "making calls," formal meetings should go back to the computer, and leave the recording task to specialized tools.

• Want to video chat with elders or kids at home → Nest Hub Max (the one with a camera) is enough; voice commands can make and answer calls.
• Have a Nest Hub without a camera → Use phone or computer for video calls; don't try anymore.
• Need to join formal meetings with meeting codes → Google Meet on phone or computer.
• Need transcripts, summaries, action items after meetings → Tinrec; desktop version records without a bot, handles Chinese and mixed Chinese-English.
• Team needs to share meeting data, manage seats and usage → Tinrec team version; remember to check the difference between roles and seats.
• 90% of meetings are in English → Otter.ai's free quota is generous; consider it.

If this is your first time with such tools, I recommend starting with the free version, running through a real meeting to see if the transcript and summary work for you, then deciding whether to upgrade. That's more accurate than reading a hundred reviews.

References

• Use Google Meet on Google Nest Hub Max and other Smart Displays - Google Meet Help
• How to make Google Duo or Google Meet group video calls on a Nest Hub Max
• Google Meet on the Nest Hub Max to be replaced with an app from Google's graveyard | Android Central
• "Hey Google, make a group call" now on Nest Hub Max
• Make Meet calls on your speakers or displays - Google Meet Help