In contrast to the sad state of Google's messaging apps (cough, Allo, cough, Hangouts, cough), Duo has become a quality alternative to other video-calling applications like Skype. The company shows no signs of leaving the service in the dust, either, as new features like web browser support and group calling have recently made it into the product. The latest functions to be added to Duo are the option to set call reminders and direct Google Home calling.

Let's start with call reminders. As you can see in the screenshot above, when you tap a contact to call them, a new option appears above the usual call and messaging buttons. As reported by Max Weinbach over at XDA (above right image), you get a similar interface to Gmail snoozing allowing you to choose when to be reminded to call your contact once you tap create. The feature doesn't work properly yet, though, as our own tipster only got the option for one of their contacts and couldn't find any way to change the time and date of the reminder once they set it.

The second new feature is the ability to call Google Home devices with the tap of a button. This has been possible previously, but you had to ask Google Assistant to make that call for you. Now, the option to call your Homes or Nests sits right within the contact list for some users. XDA Developers were able to activate this function although only a Google Nest Hub received the call, with other Home devices ignoring it altogether.

Both new functions are rolling out to some users as we speak, but as always, it might take a while until everyone has received the server-side update. It may help to be on latest version of Duo, so make sure you've downloaded the current update from the Play Store. We can't provide you an APK on this one as Google switched Duo over to App Bundles.

Via: XDA Developers

Thanks: John Arnold David