Google Meet

Is Google Meet safe?

Yes, for most calls and meetings. Google Meet does not track you for advertising, its meeting codes are hard to guess, and strangers have to ask to be let in. We score it 70/100, about level with Zoom (71) and ahead of Microsoft Teams (64).

The catch is encryption. Meetings are encrypted on the way to Google and in its data centres, but not end to end, so Google holds the keys. And the threat you are most likely to meet in 2026 is not Meet at all, but a fake Meet page that wants you to install something.

Is Google Meet end-to-end encrypted?

It depends on what kind of call you make and which account you use. Google's help centre splits it like this:

Additional encryption has costs. It greys out in-call messages, reactions, polls, Q&A, add-ons and, importantly, the button to report abuse. Calling a work or school account with it switched on fails with an error.

Client-side encryption, where an organisation holds its own keys, is the strongest option, but Google lists it only for Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Plus, and Frontline Plus. If your company or university pays for a cheaper plan, its meetings are cloud-encrypted like everyone else's.

For a team meeting or a family catch-up, cloud encryption is fine. For a conversation you would not want anyone else ever to hear, use a call that is end-to-end encryptedEnd-to-end encryptionEncryption in which only the sender and the recipient can read a message. The company running the service cannot see its content.More in the glossary by default, such as Signal or WhatsApp.

What does Google Meet collect?

Less than most Google apps, though still a fair amount. Apple's privacy label has no "Used to Track You" section and no third-party advertising, which puts Meet in a different league from Google's ad-funded products. Your user ID and purchase history are used for Google's own marketing. Coarse location, contacts, email address, phone number, photos and videos, audio, search history and device identifiers are linked to you for app features, analytics and personalisation.

On Android, Google Play's data safety section adds installed apps, files, calendar events and approximate location, and says none of it is shared with other companies.

Google says Meet keeps no audio or video from a meeting unless recording, transcripts or note-taking are switched on. Recordings land in Google Drive, encrypted at rest. If your employer or school runs the account, it can turn on recording, set retention rules and keep transcripts, so treat a work meeting as something your organisation may store.

How hard is it to gatecrash a Meet call?

Hard, by design. Meeting codes are 10 characters long, drawn from a 25-character set, which makes guessing one impractical. Invited people join directly; anyone else has to knock, and only the host can let them in, mute them or remove them. People cannot join more than 15 minutes before a scheduled start, and changing the invite replaces both the meeting code and the dial-in PIN.

That is why "zoombombing" style raids are rare on Meet. The real risk is a link that someone forwards beyond the people it was meant for, so treat links to sensitive meetings like passwords.

The fake Meet page problem

Criminals copy Meet because people trust a calendar invite. In late February 2026, Netcraft found a campaign of fake Zoom and Google Meet pages that showed what looked like a live call with distorted audio, then told the visitor an update was needed. The Meet versions served files named GoogleMeet.scr and Google_Meet_Setup.exe, which Netcraft linked to remote-access tools. Once installed, these give an attacker control of the computer.

Real Meet calls never need a download in a desktop browser. If a meeting page asks you to install something, close it and join from meet.google.com or the official app instead.

How to use Google Meet safely

1. Join from your calendar, meet.google.com or the official app, never from a site whose address you do not recognise.
2. Never install a file a meeting page offers you.
3. If you host, admit only people you expect and remove anyone who should not be there.
4. Protect the Google account behind Meet with a passkeyPasskeyA way to sign in without a password. Your device holds a key tied to one website or app and unlocks it with your fingerprint, face or PIN.More in the glossary or 2-step verification; journalists and activists should consider Google's Advanced Protection Program.
5. For a sensitive call between two personal accounts, switch on Additional encryption before you call, and remember it disables the abuse report button.
6. On a work or school account, assume the organisation can record and keep the meeting.

How we scored it

Regulatory record (88) is Meet's best factor: we found no fine or order that names it. Scams and harmful content (74) and security (70) reflect strong anti-hijacking defaults and Google's account protection, held back because meetings are not end-to-end encryptedEnd-to-end encryptionEncryption in which only the sender and the recipient can read a message. The company running the service cannot see its content.More in the glossary. Privacy (60) is the weakest: no ad tracking, but a long list of data linked to your Google account.