Introduction

This blog explains why and how to hide participants in Google Meet to ensure a distraction-free and focused virtual learning environment. Whether you're a teacher conducting an online class or a host running a confidential meeting, you may want to hide attendees' names or tiles from each other. This can help reduce distractions, maintain anonymity in sensitive sessions or support classroom discipline.

If you have questions like can Google Meet hide participants from each other by default? then here is the answer.  Google Meet does not offer a direct way to hide participants from one another. You need a smart workaround to do this. You can use xFanatical Safe Doc to implement a policy that can remove participant tiles in Google Meet lessons. Hiding participant names and video feeds allows educators to control the learning environment better, minimizing distractions and promoting engagement.

For more information, please visit  Google docs support.

xFanatical Safe Doc removes the Contributors tab in Google MeetxFanatical Safe Doc removes the Contributors tab in Google Meet

Why Hide Participants in Google Meet for Education?

Focus is an essential part of learning. Students can get distracted by visible participant tiles and they may feel anxious about being visible. Additionally, students can get busy reading other participants' details rather than concentrating on a lesson.

Let’s understand the scenario through a user story:

Problem: Teacher Jessica, a high school teacher, conducted a Google meeting and noticed that students were distracted by the visibility of other participants in the meeting. Some students were busy in conversations instead of focusing on the lesson. Some students were shy, due to which they could not respond well to learning.

Solution:  To find a solution, Jessica discussed it with the IT admin and decided to hide participants in Google Meet. With this, only the speaker and the shared content will be visible to students. It helped students to focus on the lesson rather than on each other’s actions. After the block students felt more comfortable and less anxious about their visibility in class.

Result: After hiding participants' tile, teacher Jessica noticed a significant improvement in student focus and participation. Students became more engaged with the class discussions, without distraction. The students who were previously shy to speak up felt more comfortable opening up to discussions.

What is a xFanatical Safe Doc?

xFanatical safe doc is a comprehensive browser extension that is used for maintaining a focused and secure online learning environment for young students. This extension provides robust tools to  administrators and teachers, so that they can easily manage and restrict access to various unwanted features of Google Workspace for Education (GWAF), ensuring a safe and productive digital learning environment can be established.

With Safe Doc, schools get more control over digital behavior without affecting the core learning experience.

Hide Participants in Google Meet with xFanatical Safe Doc

Google Meet allows everyone to see video tiles and participant names within the meeting. But this feature isn't ideal in a classroom environment. xFanatical Safe Doc offers a BlockMeetStudentInfo policy to remove participant tiles in Google Meet. By applying the policy, participant names and video feeds can be hidden from students. This ensures reduced distractions, improves student attention and provides more comfortable space for learning.

xFanatical Safe Doc removes the Contributors details in Google Meet

xFanatical Safe Doc removes the Contributors details in Google Meet

How to Hide Participants in Google Meet using xFanatical Safe Doc

Step 1 : Install Safe Doc :  The first step is to install Safe doc in your Google Workspace environment.

Step 2 : Configure Safe doc settings : Once you have successfully installed Safe Doc, you can start configuring its settings in accordance to your requirements.

Step 3 : Access Google Admin Console : Now, navigate to the Google Admin Console. In the Google Admin Console, click on Devices followed by Chrome. Then, select Apps and Extensions and click on Users and Browsers.

Step 4 : Copy the required policy and paste it : 

Locate the policy that you wish to apply and copy it. The policy will display in a specific format similar to the example provided below:

"BlockMeetStudentInfo": {

  "Value": true

}

Step 5: Save the Policy: 

After applying the policy, click the Save button to apply it.

How to configure Safe Doc?

First of all, ensure the deployment of Safe Doc on your students' Chrome browsers, and review the xFanatical Safe Doc Configuration document.

Subsequently, incorporate the BlockMeetStudentInfo policy into your Safe Doc configuration, setting its value to true.

FAQs About Hiding Participants in Google Meet

  • Q1: Can Google Meet hide participants from each other?
  • A: Not entirely by default, but you can limit visibility using spotlight view or by using xFanatical Safe Doc’s policy.

  • Q2: How to hide participants in Google Meet for students?
  • A: Use host controls, spotlight layout and third-party tools to limit interaction and visibility during sessions.

  • Q3: Can I remove participant tiles in Google Meet?
  • A: Yes, participant tiles can be removed pinning a presentation for individual user and admins can fully remove tiles for all users by applying the xFanatical Safe Doc policy.

Conclusion

Hopefully after reading this article you have understood how and why to hide participants in Google meet, and maintain a productive learning environment for your students. Please follow all the steps in the correct order so as to get the desired results and if you face any problem or have any query related to this article please feel free to comment below we will connect with you as soon as possible.

Get your 30 days trial of Safe Doc today and create a distraction-free learning space that puts student success first.

Visit xFanatical Safe Doc to learn more.

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