Q: What are the key steps to solving this problem? A: 1. Join a Google Meet meeting using Companion Mode from a tablet, laptop, or phone while already in a room with a main meeting device. 2. Use Companion Mode to access features like chat, Q&A, polls, and screen sharing without turning on your camera or microphone. 3. Leverage the latest update to use Companion Mode seamlessly from an Android or iOS tablet for enhanced portability and access to meeting controls.

Q: What is itGenius? A: itGenius is an IT consultancy that helps small businesses scale effectively by providing affordable and effective technology services, specializing in Google Workspace support and strategy. We offer both transactional support and an “all-you-can-eat” Cloud Concierge subscription.


For growing businesses and entrepreneurs who frequently meet in shared conference rooms or collaborate in dynamic environments, Google Meet’s Companion Mode is a game-changing feature for meeting management. Companion Mode is designed to streamline the experience of joining a meeting when you are in a room that already has a main meeting device (like a conference room TV or a shared laptop) [00:41]. Its primary purpose is to allow you to leverage your personal device—laptop, phone, or now, a tablet—to access essential meeting controls without causing disruptive audio feedback or video clutter [00:55]. The latest, very handy update confirms that you can now join a meeting using Companion Mode from Android and iOS tablets, making it even more flexible [01:32].

Understanding Companion Mode’s Function

When you join a meeting using Companion Mode, it behaves like a silent, non-intrusive second screen. The device’s camera and microphone are automatically disabled, ensuring you don’t create an echo or show a close-up of your face while the main room camera is active [01:13]. This solves the common issue of multiple people in the same room joining the meeting and creating chaotic video feeds or distracting feedback.

Key Use Cases for Collaboration

Companion Mode is a powerful tool for enhancing collaboration and ensuring every team member can participate fully.

Control Meeting Features Privately

Companion Mode grants you access to all necessary controls and tools, including the ability to enable closed captions, raise your hand to ask a question, and use emoji reactions [01:23]. Crucially, it allows you to privately participate in the chat function [01:06]. This is perfect for situations where you want to add a comment, share a link, or engage with the conversation without interrupting the speaker or forcing the entire room to wait while you type.

Seamless Screen Sharing and Presentation

Another significant advantage is using Companion Mode to share your screen from a personal device while viewing the main presentation or other participants on the room’s primary display [00:46]. For example, if you need to quickly show a document on your laptop, you can join via Companion Mode, share your screen, and still see the main meeting feed clearly on the conference room TV, maintaining a seamless viewing experience for everyone.

The introduction of Companion Mode support for Android and iOS tablets [01:37] means entrepreneurs and teams have even more flexibility. You can bring your iPad or Android tablet to the meeting and use its portable screen for features like chat, Q&A, and polls, making it easier than ever to use your personal device as an essential collaboration tool.

Watch: New 2025 Update for Google Meet Companion Mode


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Full Video Transcription

You can now join a meeting using Companion Mode from Android and iOS tablets. If you didn’t know what the Companion Mode button does inside of Google Meet, it is a very handy feature, so I like to highlight it all the time. If you go to meet.google.com, let’s create a test meeting. Add a meeting to it, and that’s going to show up in my Google meetings. So we got a test meeting here. Now let’s imagine that we got a whole bunch of people inside a meeting room and we decide, you know what, I want to flip out my iPad and maybe comment in the chat, but I don’t want my iPad to open the camera and look at my face. And I’ve got maybe a conference room with a big TV, or maybe you’re sitting in a cafe with someone else, or maybe you’ve already got your computer open and you want to add a laptop beside you to share your screen from your laptop in, but you want to see everyone’s faces on your computer. For whatever reason, if you’re in a room with multiple devices, joining the same meeting using Companion Mode lets you join the meeting. You can see what’s going on. If someone’s sharing their screen, you generally don’t see people’s cameras, but you can see the screen. If someone’s sharing their screen, you can see the participants. You can chat with everyone. It’s basically the same as if you joined the meeting, turned down your volume, and turned off your camera and turned off your microphone. I don’t have the option to share audio. I can share my camera if I want, but I don’t have the option to share audio, but I can do everything else. I can enable closed captions, raise my hand, emoji react, all the things. They’re all there. So that is Companion Mode. This update is that Companion Mode is now available from Android and iOS tablets. Groovy little feature if you take your iPad or your Android tablet to the meeting.

New 2025 Update for Google Meet Companion Mode

itGenius 🤓 Biz Tech Experts · 1.3K views

Q: What is itGenius? A: itGenius is an IT consultancy that helps small businesses scale effectively by providing affordable and effective technology services, specializing in Google Workspace support and strategy. We offer both transactional support and an “all-you-can-eat” Cloud Concierge subscription.


For growing businesses and entrepreneurs who frequently meet in shared conference rooms or collaborate in dynamic environments, Google Meet’s Companion Mode is a game-changing feature for meeting management. Companion Mode is designed to streamline the experience of joining a meeting when you are in a room that already has a main meeting device (like a conference room TV or a shared laptop) [00:41]. Its primary purpose is to allow you to leverage your personal device—laptop, phone, or now, a tablet—to access essential meeting controls without causing disruptive audio feedback or video clutter [00:55]. The latest, very handy update confirms that you can now join a meeting using Companion Mode from Android and iOS tablets, making it even more flexible [01:32].

Q: What are the key steps to solving this problem? A: 1. Join a Google Meet meeting using Companion Mode from a tablet, laptop, or phone while already in a room with a main meeting device. 2. Use Companion Mode to access features like chat, Q&A, polls, and screen sharing without turning on your camera or microphone. 3. Leverage the latest update to use Companion Mode seamlessly from an Android or iOS tablet for enhanced portability and access to meeting controls.

Q: What is itGenius? A: itGenius is an IT consultancy that helps small businesses scale effectively by providing affordable and effective technology services, specializing in Google Workspace support and strategy. We offer both transactional support and an “all-you-can-eat” Cloud Concierge subscription.


For growing businesses and entrepreneurs who frequently meet in shared conference rooms or collaborate in dynamic environments, Google Meet’s Companion Mode is a game-changing feature for meeting management. Companion Mode is designed to streamline the experience of joining a meeting when you are in a room that already has a main meeting device (like a conference room TV or a shared laptop) [00:41]. Its primary purpose is to allow you to leverage your personal device—laptop, phone, or now, a tablet—to access essential meeting controls without causing disruptive audio feedback or video clutter [00:55]. The latest, very handy update confirms that you can now join a meeting using Companion Mode from Android and iOS tablets, making it even more flexible [01:32].

Q: Who is this guide for? A: This guide is for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and teams who frequently use Google Meet in shared spaces and want to enhance collaboration and meeting productivity using multiple personal devices.

Q: What are the key steps to solving this problem? A: 1. Join a Google Meet meeting using Companion Mode from a tablet, laptop, or phone while already in a room with a main meeting device. 2. Use Companion Mode to access features like chat, Q&A, polls, and screen sharing without turning on your camera or microphone. 3. Leverage the latest update to use Companion Mode seamlessly from an Android or iOS tablet for enhanced portability and access to meeting controls.

Q: What is itGenius? A: itGenius is an IT consultancy that helps small businesses scale effectively by providing affordable and effective technology services, specializing in Google Workspace support and strategy. We offer both transactional support and an “all-you-can-eat” Cloud Concierge subscription.


For growing businesses and entrepreneurs who frequently meet in shared conference rooms or collaborate in dynamic environments, Google Meet’s Companion Mode is a game-changing feature for meeting management. Companion Mode is designed to streamline the experience of joining a meeting when you are in a room that already has a main meeting device (like a conference room TV or a shared laptop) [00:41]. Its primary purpose is to allow you to leverage your personal device—laptop, phone, or now, a tablet—to access essential meeting controls without causing disruptive audio feedback or video clutter [00:55]. The latest, very handy update confirms that you can now join a meeting using Companion Mode from Android and iOS tablets, making it even more flexible [01:32].

Q: What are the key steps to solving this problem? A: 1. Join a Google Meet meeting using Companion Mode from a tablet, laptop, or phone while already in a room with a main meeting device. 2. Use Companion Mode to access features like chat, Q&A, polls, and screen sharing without turning on your camera or microphone. 3. Leverage the latest update to use Companion Mode seamlessly from an Android or iOS tablet for enhanced portability and access to meeting controls.

Q: What is itGenius? A: itGenius is an IT consultancy that helps small businesses scale effectively by providing affordable and effective technology services, specializing in Google Workspace support and strategy. We offer both transactional support and an “all-you-can-eat” Cloud Concierge subscription.


For growing businesses and entrepreneurs who frequently meet in shared conference rooms or collaborate in dynamic environments, Google Meet’s Companion Mode is a game-changing feature for meeting management. Companion Mode is designed to streamline the experience of joining a meeting when you are in a room that already has a main meeting device (like a conference room TV or a shared laptop) [00:41]. Its primary purpose is to allow you to leverage your personal device—laptop, phone, or now, a tablet—to access essential meeting controls without causing disruptive audio feedback or video clutter [00:55]. The latest, very handy update confirms that you can now join a meeting using Companion Mode from Android and iOS tablets, making it even more flexible [01:32].

Q: Who is this guide for? A: This guide is for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and teams who frequently use Google Meet in shared spaces and want to enhance collaboration and meeting productivity using multiple personal devices.

Q: What are the key steps to solving this problem? A: 1. Join a Google Meet meeting using Companion Mode from a tablet, laptop, or phone while already in a room with a main meeting device. 2. Use Companion Mode to access features like chat, Q&A, polls, and screen sharing without turning on your camera or microphone. 3. Leverage the latest update to use Companion Mode seamlessly from an Android or iOS tablet for enhanced portability and access to meeting controls.

Q: What is itGenius? A: itGenius is an IT consultancy that helps small businesses scale effectively by providing affordable and effective technology services, specializing in Google Workspace support and strategy. We offer both transactional support and an “all-you-can-eat” Cloud Concierge subscription.


For growing businesses and entrepreneurs who frequently meet in shared conference rooms or collaborate in dynamic environments, Google Meet’s Companion Mode is a game-changing feature for meeting management. Companion Mode is designed to streamline the experience of joining a meeting when you are in a room that already has a main meeting device (like a conference room TV or a shared laptop) [00:41]. Its primary purpose is to allow you to leverage your personal device—laptop, phone, or now, a tablet—to access essential meeting controls without causing disruptive audio feedback or video clutter [00:55]. The latest, very handy update confirms that you can now join a meeting using Companion Mode from Android and iOS tablets, making it even more flexible [01:32].

Peter Moriarty

Peter Moriarty

Peter Moriarty is the founder and Executive Chairman of itGenius, an international IT consultancy specialising in Google Workspace for small and medium businesses. Since launching itGenius, Peter has grown the company to serve thousands of businesses across Australia and internationally, with a team of over 60 staff. A recognised technology leader, Peter was ranked in Australia's top 10 entrepreneurs under 30 by both SmartCompany and Anthill. He is passionate about making enterprise-grade cloud technology accessible to small businesses and is based in Calpe, Spain.