Perfectly: How to blur zoom background?

In this current pandemic, while at home you may often attend classes or meetings on Zoom. During a video conference, other people will of course see your background. You can change the appearance of the background either because of a messy room or other privacy reasons. In this article, we’ll cover how to blur zoom background.

◆ How to blur zoom background?

Everyone is used to changing their background with a virtual background Zoom whenever they want to hide what’s behind them. However, not everyone is comfortable with virtual backgrounds because they usually don’t work well without a greenscreen or steady lighting.

Zoom has finally introduced the Blur background feature with the 5.5.0 update. Using the new feature, you can obscure everything else except yourself in a meeting to distract yourself.

Below is a guide on blurring a Zoom video background before joining a meeting or during a video conference already running on your computer. But before we start, make sure you update your Zoom client to the latest version.

How to Make a Blur Background on Zoom Before a Meeting ?

1. Open the Zoom client on your PC.
2. Click the  Settings icon in the top right corner.

3.Select Background & Filters  from the sidebar on the left.

4. Under Virtual Backgrounds, select Blur.

The zoom will now blur your backgrounds, and the same will be reflected in real-time in the preview window. Now you can close Settings and join meetings with blurred backgrounds.

How to Blur the Background on Zoom During a Meeting?

1. While in a meeting, click the up-facing arrow next to Stop Video.
2. Click Choose Virtual Background.
3. On the next screen, select the Blur background effect.

The background blur effect will be applied automatically to your video. If you don’t like the blur effect, you can revert to the original video or replace your background with an image or video in the same ‘Background & Filters’ menu via Zoom settings.

Note : You don’t need to have a green screen to use the blur feature. Zoom disables the “I have a green screen” option when you select the Blur option.

Related: How to Unblur an Image?

◆ Alternative Ways to Make Background Blur on Zoom

If you don’t want to update the Zoom client for some reason, you can follow an alternative approach to blur the background during a Zoom video call.

Here, we will use Zoom’s virtual background feature to replace the background with a blurred image. This will make it look like you’ve blurred your background, even though you’ve blurred the image before.

1. Take your background photo:
2. To start with, you have to take a background image. You can do this with a webcam, using the Camera app on Windows or the PhotoBooth app on Mac. You can also click pictures with your phone’s camera. Make sure the photos taken are in good lighting and of good quality.
3. Add Blur to photo background. Now, add a blur effect to the background photo you took.
4. Open your browser and go to https://www.befunky.com/create/blur-image/
5. Here, click Open > Computer  and select your background image.
6. After the image is added, set the desired blur intensity.
7. Then, click Save > Computer.
8. Set the quality to 100 and click Save to download the image. Now it’s time to upload the blurred background image in Zoom using the virtual background option.
9. Open Zoom on your PC and go to Settings.
10. Here, select Background & Filters from the sidebar.
11. Click the + icon and tap Add Image in the Virtual Background tab.
12. Select the blurred background image you edited.
13. The image will replace your actual background, giving the impression of a blurred background.

◆ How to blur Zoom background on Android and iOS phones?

Since the Blur effect was released as a feature of the version 5.6.6 update in the Zoom app on iOS and Android, you need to make sure that you’ve updated the Zoom app on your phone to the latest version on the App Store and Google Play Store.

Note: Before you proceed to try the Blur effect, you should know that the feature requires your phone to meet the requirements to apply virtual backgrounds on Android and iOS. For example, users of iPhone 7, iPad 4th Generation, or older devices will be disappointed to learn that the background blur option will not be available on their device. That’s because Blur effects, such as virtual backgrounds, only run on iPhone 8, iPad 5th Generation, and later models. Likewise, Zoom users on Android must have a device that has at least 3GB RAM, Android 8, octa-core processor, and a compatible graphics processor to be able to use the blur background option.

If your iPhone or Android phone meets the system requirements, now we will continue to discuss how to blur background zoom on an Android phone or iPhone.

Once you’ve updated the Zoom app to its latest version, open it on your phone and create a new meeting or Join a meeting.

Here’s how to blur the Zoom background on an Android phone:

1. Inside the Meeting screen, tap the More button (3 dots icon) in the lower right corner.
2. When the popup menu appears, select the Virtual Background option (on Android) or the Background and Filters option (on iOS).
3. On the next screen, you should be able to see your face in the camera preview next to the option to enable a different background.
4. From here, tap on the Blur option on the screen.
5. Everything around you will now be blurred and only your face will be highlighted in the camera view.
6. You can return to the meeting screen and everyone in the meeting will see you in the newly blurred environment.

If you have a green screen, select “I have a green screen” to make it more stable. Also, make sure you’re in the right lighting for the feature to work properly.

This is a quick guide on how to create a background Blur in Zoom, be it before joining a meeting or during a meeting.