Blurring your Zoom background can help you make your meeting more informative and productive by eliminating distractions. In this tutorial, you’ll come to know how to blur background in Zoom on Mac.
Zoom has a blur background feature that is available at no extra cost. Whether you need to protect your privacy or temporarily change office space, blurring is helpful. Before we go ahead about methods to blur the background in Zoom, let’s learn how it can benefit you.
Why Blur Background in Zoom?
Blurring Zoom background can serve several purposes. This is an easy Zoom feature that can help you hide a messy environment. Moreover, it can assist with enhanced privacy. Blurring it for meetings can save you quality time and help with many more things.
If your environment has certain personal or sensitive details such as certificates or personal photos, blurring can hide this. It keeps the focus on the presentation by removing the hard lines and distracting things. You can also blur identifiable features to ensure privacy.
Blur Zoom Background Before Call
As your Mac change wallpaper and screensavers quickly in a few simple steps, blurring the background in Zoom is quite simple too. To change the background settings for blurring, launch Zoom and then sign in to your Zoom account. Further, move on to the next steps.
Now, tap on the Settings gear icon option in the top-right corner. Choose the Backgrounds & Filters option in Settings. Choose Blur from Virtual Backgrounds to make your background appear blurred. To remove this feature, select None under Virtual Backgrounds.
Blur Background During Zoom Call
In case you have started your Zoom call and suddenly need to blur something, you can easily do that. To go for it, simply find the bar at the bottom of the meeting screen. To make it appear, you may have to use your mouse.
Then, find the Stop Video button and click on the arrow. Next, hit on Video Setting and then select Backgrounds & Filters. Choose the Background option. It will immediately blur the background.
Check Zoom Version Before You Blur
When participating in Zoom calls, you can blur the background. But before you do that, check which Zoom version you’re using. The blur feature is primarily available only on the 5.5 and later Zoom versions. To check which version of Zoom you are using, hit Settings.
Select ‘About Zoom’ in the Help section. Choose your profile icon. Now, hit on the Check for Updates option. Here, you will see a small window with your current Zoom version. If it is 5.5.0 (12467.0131) or later, you can start blurring.
How to Blur Background in the Meeting?
Alongside the method discussed above, you can blur the background in the Zoom meeting in another way. To start with it, attend your Zoom meeting as you usually do. Now, tap the ‘^’ key. It will be available next to Stop Video at the bottom screen.
Next, click on the ‘Blur My Background’ option. It will blur the background. During future Zoom meetings, the setting blur my background will be the default setting. Whenever you need to stop the blurred background, tap USB Video Device to return to the regular set.
Does Your Mac Meet Minimum Requirements?
The reason for not seeing a blur option is the lack of system updates. As stated above, you need at least Zoom Client version 5.5 or new on Mac. So, first, check for it. If it doesn’t assist, check if your Mac meets the minimum processor and Client requirements.
Your Mac will require different supported processors to use a virtual background with no green screen. It’ll appear on the Zoom help page for virtual background requirements. Or, go to Backgrounds and Filters and unmark “I have a green screen” under Virtual Backgrounds.
Can’t Blur Zoom Background
If you are unable to blur because this option is not available, then check the processor. Find out which processor you are using and if it meets the requirement. This feature needs a significant amount of GPU and CPU. macOS devices must have 6th or later generation.
In Dock, locate the Finder icon and right-click on it. Tap New Finder Window and hit Applications. Access the Utilities folder and launch the Terminal app. Type sysctl machdep.cpu.brand_string command. The first two digits after ‘-‘show the generation.
The Conclusion
Here is all about how to blur background in Zoom on Mac to ensure the premium quality of your call. Blurring background on Zoom is an easy-to-use feature that can be set up quickly on your Mac.
Sometimes when you need to temporarily change video communication tools, you will most probably encounter background errors. At that time, blurring the background in Zoom was a good call. Be sure to first check the Zoom Client version.
