You know you’re stuck in the infinite loop of pandemic life when you can no longer muster the enthusiasm to change your silly virtual zoom background. I have has been overusing Zoom’s default “space” image for some time– but imagine my surprise when I last went to switch and found that the app now includes a lot more virtual backgrounds and effects that anyone can try.
Make sure you have updated Zoom to the latest version of the app to access them. This should go without saying on your mobile devices. From the desktop, click your profile picture in the top right corner of Zoom’s main window and select Check for updates under the menu.
(While there is no guarantee that updating to the latest version of Zoom will give you additional features, it gives you the best possible chance of staying up to date with your updates. And it’s great for Zoom security too. Okay, back to the fun.)
Start a zoom call and access the virtual background feature by clicking the arrow next to your video button at the bottom left corner. Select “Choose virtual background”, and you should now see a few new options – a beautifully animated beach and a simpler “background blur” feature. I can’t decide which one I like more.
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But we are barely finished. Click on the small “Studio Effects” link in the lower right corner, and you will get one pop-out sidebar that allows you to assign yourself new eyebrows, a mustache and / or beard and a lip color. Sweet. Who doesn’t want a pair Eugene Levy eyebrows?
Make sure to turn off ‘Apply to all future meetings’ so you don’t have to worry forget to adjust these effects when you switch from your hangouts with friends on the weekend to your next work chat.
When you’re done messing around there, make sure to click on Zoom “Video filters” option, to the right of “Virtual Wallpapers.” There you’ll find a whole host of different filters that you can flip on top of your image, from filters that adjust the color to, well:
Don’t forget to turn it off “Mirror my video” if you find that some of the effects are reversed, how else will your friends and colleagues know that you are confused by their presentation?
While you won’t find the aforementioned Studio effects, nor the lovely animated beach, on the mobile versions of your Zoom app (at least at the time of writing), you should still be able to access filters from your virtual background menu.