Read: 5 Best All in one Messenger apps
How to Get Blur Mode on Microsoft Teams
The toggle to enable Blur my Background is different on the free version of Microsoft Teams, compared to the paid variant. Moreover, unlike Skype, you cannot permanently enable “Blur my Background” as of now. Hence, you would have to do this every time during a video call or video conference.
While in the video call, click on the three buttons on the extreme right of the floating bar. From the extended menu, click on “Background Effects”.
On the background effects page, you would see a bunch of background effects. The very first option is Blur my Background. Click on it and it’ll restart your video stream and you should have a blurred background.
Similar to Skype, the Blur my Background on Teams works based on AI. So, the app is quick to detect human faces and tries to blur everything else.
Apart from the Blur my Background option, you also have custom backgrounds. Obviously, when you choose them, it replaces your original background. But surprisingly, I found it to be a lot better than the Zoom’s virtual background. So, basically, Zoom’s virtual background detects a certain color and replaces it with the custom background. It’s similar to the chroma keying you get with the video editing apps. However, in Microsoft Teams, it cuts out the human subject and imposes it on the custom background. Hence, it seems near perfect and this mechanism is easy to cope with head movement. But having said that, it struggles when you bring in your hand or other inanimate objects like mobile phones or microphones.
Read: 11 Best Group Video Call Apps for Android
Closing Words
This was the way to get Blur my background feature in Microsoft Teams. Due to the lockdown, Microsoft has seen a surge in the Teams membership. The company has also redirected its attention and development from Skype to Microsoft Teams. Eventually, we would see all Skype features trickling down to Microsoft Teams. I’ll be updating the article likewise. For more issues or queries, let me know in the comments below Also Read: These Services Are Free During Quarantine
