Duo is getting an update today, bringing the version number up to 42. Upon install, there aren't any visible changes, but a quick teardown points to a potentially great enhancement. Just in time for the holidays, users may get to send video messages to multiple recipients, thus saving the time it would take to record a message to each and every person individually.

Teardown

Disclaimer: Teardowns are based on evidence found inside of apks (Android's application package) and are necessarily speculative and usually based on incomplete information. It's possible that the guesses made here are wrong or inaccurate. Even when predictions are correct, there is always a chance that products could change or may be canceled. Much like rumors, nothing is certain until it's officially announced and released. Disclaimer: Teardowns are based on evidence found inside of apks (Android's application package) and are necessarily speculative and usually based on incomplete information. It's possible that the guesses made here are wrong or inaccurate. Even when predictions are correct, there is always a chance that products could change or may be canceled. Much like rumors, nothing is certain until it's officially announced and released. The features discussed below are probably not live yet, or may only be live for a small percentage of users. Unless stated otherwise, don't expect to see these features if you install the apk. All screenshots and images are real unless otherwise stated, and images are only altered to remove personal information.

Message to multiple recipients

Back in March, Duo added video messaging so users could avoid live conversations while still sending a video. Now there are signs that you may soon be able to send those messages to multiple contacts at once.

The new strings show a combination of selecting and sending messages to a single contact or multiples. You will be able to scroll through your contact list and tap on each person to add them as a recipient. I'm not entirely sure if this will come before or after recording your message, but I suspect it comes first.

strings < string name = " sending_message_toast_single " > Sending to %s </ string >

< string name = " sending_message_toast_multiple " > Sending to %1$d : %2$s </ string > < plurals name = " clip_contact_picker_title " >

< item > Choose 1 friend </ item >

< item > Choose %d friends </ item >

</ plurals >

< plurals name = " clip_contact_picker_title_multiple_selected " >

< item > 1 selected </ item >

< item > %d selected </ item >

</ plurals >

You might be wondering why something like this is useful, and I'll just remind you that a bunch of holidays and events are coming up for many nations, so sending a video greeting to your friends and family will be pretty common. If Duo rolls out this functionality before then, you may not have to rely on sending poor-quality videos with MMS.

In fact — and I'm not quite sure if this works — you might even be able to send video messages to most of your contact list without relying on them using Duo thanks to built-in support provided by Google Play services that allows users to call people even when they don't already have Duo installed.

Download

The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.