Google Meet is expanding post-quantum cryptography (PQC) to calls, beginning today on laptop web clients and meeting room hardware, to guard against potential future threats from quantum computers. Google says mobile support will follow soon, while users will see no changes to how they use Meet.
The rollout begins today for both Scheduled Release and Rapid Release domains and may take up to 15 days. Eligibility covers every Google Workspace customer, subscribers to Workspace Individual and people using personal Google accounts. Google applies the updates automatically for hosts and participants, so neither administrators nor users need to do anything.
Read more: Google Meet Rolls Out to Android Auto with Audio-Only Calls
Google says the encryption is intended to counter the theoretical possibility that someone could collect meeting traffic now and decrypt it later with a future quantum computer. A quantum computer capable of that cryptographic threat does not exist today, according to Google. The company describes the collection-and-later-decryption approach as Store Now, Decrypt Later.
Google Meet previously used quantum-safe encryption for client-side encrypted calls (CSE), making this an expansion beyond that existing use. Administrators have no control for the feature, and end users have no setting to adjust it.
The encryption change follows a separate expansion of Meet's room features: automatic room check-in began rolling out on Android and iOS for Workspace customers with Meet hardware last month. That feature detects proximity through ultrasound using a phone or tablet microphone to help people join conference-room meetings in companion mode.
