How to Blur Background in Zoom – The Guide
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At the height of the pandemic, the sudden change in lifestyle has become inevitable for individuals, businesses, and even governments. One of the many challenges faced by many is how to battle the disruption in day-to-day operations for businesses. This ushered in a new era of office work – working from home.
Working from home brought significant changes to how the workforce operates. Today, 71% of workers are doing their jobs from home. That is why the surge of various productivity tools has become more evident.
Even the most rigid companies had no choice but to adapt to the new normal, including remote work. To overcome the severely distressed workplace, companies harness various productivity tools to sustain employees’ productivity, efficiency, and communication even in the comforts of their homes.
Having seamless communication is vital in companies. And in 2020 rose, the leading tool for communicating – Zoom.
Zoom is the leading tool in modern video communications, allowing multiple users to communicate through video and audio. It allows up to a thousand video participants and tens of thousands of viewers. With the Zoom app available on mobile and laptops, needless to say, it has become the most popular video conferencing app in the market today.
However, as working from home has its own advantages, one of the most common disadvantages is that we do not always have the ideal surroundings.
Let us say that your workspace is unsuitable or you have a messy room. You would want a more appropriate background, especially if you attend video calls frequently.
Thankfully, Zoom offers a variety of virtual backgrounds for its users. But if the backgrounds are still not enough for you, you always have the blur option. The blur background option is just one of the variants available in the application’s virtual backgrounds.
The virtual background setting houses diverse virtual backgrounds that can be used in a zoom call or conference.
This article will dive into achieving the perfect blurred background for your Zoom meetings on your laptops, Android, or even on your iOS device.
Of course, before we start, you have to make sure that your Zoom desktop client is updated before launching the app on your preferred device. Also, you may want to check whether your device meets Zoom’s system requirements for achieving that blur zoom background. Here, you can explore some funny Zoom backgrounds.
System requirements for using background blur feature
- Zoom desktop client:
- Windows: 5.2.0 or higher
- Mac: 4.6.4 or higher
- Linux: 5.7.6 or higher
- Zoom mobile app:
- Android: 5.3.0 or higher
- iOs: 5.3.0 or higher
How to blur background in Zoom for Windows 10 and macOS
For you to blur your background before the meeting
1. Launch Zoom App
2. Sign in on the Zoom desktop client.
3. At the top-right corner, under your profile picture, click the Settings icon.
4. On the left sidebar, select Backgrounds, and Filters. You will have two options available, which are Virtual Backgrounds and Video Filters.
5. Under Virtual Backgrounds, select Blur.
Zoom will automatically blur the background for your video calls. As you close the settings icon, you will automatically have a blurred background as you join your meeting space.
In some cases, you may have to blur the background during an ongoing zoom meeting.
Here is how to blur background in Zoom during an online meeting
1. While in your Zoom meeting, click on the arrow facing up beside the Stop Video icon.
2. Select Choose Virtual Background.
3. On the pop-up screen, select Blur background option.
The blur background feature will automatically be applied as your virtual background during your Zoom meeting. Suppose you do not find yourself liking the blur background option. In that case, you can easily revert it back to the original background or choose another option from zoom’s virtual background feature.
Let us say that you do not have the time to update your Zoom client for a reason, but you still need to have a blurred background for your zoom video call; luckily, there is an alternative way to do so.
In this option, you will use Zoom’s virtual background feature to replace your background with a blurred background image which will give off that blurred background during Zoom calls.
Here is how to blur the background in zoom using an image
1. Select your desired photo for your video background.
You may start by selecting the background image of your choice. You may do it using your webcam or select any background photo of your choice. You may also use photos from your phone, but you have to make sure that it fits the virtual background requirements.
2. Add blur to the background photo of your choice.
To blur the background of your photo, you may use different applications and websites available on the internet such as befunky, fotor, pixlr among others. In this process, you may select your desired blur intensity which will work best as your virtual background. Make sure that the image is standard to the minimum resolution compatible with the app.
3. Open zoom and upload the blurred background image in the app.
Once the blurred background picture is uploaded, you may start using the Virtual Background option. To do this, simply head on to zoom settings, select Backgrounds & Filters, and click on the + icon and tap Add Image your desired image in the Virtual Backgrounds tab.
Select the edited blurred background picture of your choice.
4. Select the edited blurred background picture of your choice.
5. Your selected blurred image will now automatically replace your video background in zoom.
If you happen to have a green screen, you may select the ‘I have green screen’ option under zoom settings. You also have to make sure that your surroundings have decent lighting for the green screen to work properly.
How to blur Zoom background for Android or iOS devices
With Zoom regularly updating its features for mobile apps, the blur background feature can also be used on any android or iOS device.
1. Install the Zoom app on your device.
2. Launch Zoom.
3. Once your video is set, choose from join or create a meeting.
4. Once the meeting starts, you may tap anywhere on the screen to view some control features.
5. At the bottom-right corner, tap on the More button.
6. For Android, choose Virtual Background. For iOS users, select Background and Filters.
7. Select the Blur option on your phone.
What if there is no background blur option?
If you were able to exhaust all your efforts in following all the steps but still cannot use the blur feature on any of your devices, you may also want to try these methods.
Check whether your device supports the blur background feature
Virtual or blurred zoom background requires more processing power, thus, the option may not be compatible with some devices. This is why you should be able to check your device if it is able to support virtual backgrounds by paying zoom support page a visit.
Check your device’s operating system and zoom video settings requirements.
What if your system fits the requirement but still cannot seem to achieve Zoom’s blurred background?
If you still cannot find background blur effect despite meeting the app’s system requirements and can use the virtual background option even without a green screen, then it may be possible that your Zoom client is outdated. Then you can start updating your Zoom app. Here are some things that you can do:
Updating your Zoom App for your Windows and Mac
- Open Zoom and log in to your account.
- At the top-right corner, click on your profile picture.
- From the list that will appear, click Check for Updates.
- The system will automatically check for updates and install them.
- Once done, you may restart your Zoom client and start setting up your virtual background for your next zoom call.
Updating your Zoom App on Android and iOS devices
- Open Zoom app on your mobile device and make sure that you signed in to your account.
- Tap Settings icon at the bottom right of the screen.
- Click on About on the selections given.
- Then, tap Version, and your mobile app will automatically check for updates.
You may also have your app directly updated from Google Play or App Store.
Signing in and out? It must be time for Zoom Support
For some signing in and out of their accounts worked after having problems with setting up their virtual background. If your device support virtual backgrounds and you have everything updated, and blur option remains unfound, then it must be time to contact Zoom support.
Achieving a blurred background for your future meetings is fairly plain and simple
Setting up your Zoom and achieving that blurred background is uncomplicated. Now that you know how to set up your app, you can always be sure to have a suitable background that works best for your future meetings that will definitely make your surroundings more appropriate and work-ready. Check out the happy birthday Zoom background to make your meeting more fun on your loved one’s birthday.
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If you want to show a more fun side to working from home, let All Time Design do the work for you! With our company’s diverse and creative force, we can easily turn your messy room into an aesthetic office space that speaks volumes of professionalism, formality, and even a little bit of quirkiness! Check out the best Zoom backgrounds for you!
Let All Time Design creatives do your customized Zoom background for your next video call. Visit All Time Design today!
