Google hangouts how to change background

To help limit distractions or make meetings more fun, you can now blur or replace your background or replace it with an image, an immersive background, or a video. You can also apply styles to customize your video with various light, color filters and stylized backgrounds.

To help devices better run real-time video, you can process background blur effects and light adjustments in the cloud. This feature saves battery and processor power and optimizes meeting quality.

Important: 

• Sensitive information might be visible when you change your background.
• Availability of styles and backgrounds are subject to client type, account type, and settings applied by Google Workspace admins.

Change background  

Important: To use Change background and Effects on an Android device, you must use one of the following devices with Android version P:

• A Samsung Galaxy S9 and up
• Pixel 3 and up
• Other similar devices

Before a meeting

1. Open the Meet app
   
   
   select a meeting.
2. Before you join, on the bottom of your self view, tap Effects .
   • To slightly blur your background, tap Slightly blur
     
     .
   • To completely blur your background, tap Blur background
     
     .
   • To upload your own background, tap Add
     
     .
   • To select a pre-uploaded background, tap the background you want to use.
   • To select a style, at the bottom, tap Styles
     
     the style you want to use.
   • To select a filter, at the bottom, tap Filters
     
     the filter you want to use.
     • Tip: If the filter is interactive, follow the directions on the screen to activate it.
   • To remove the effect, tap No effects or tap .
3. When you are done, tap Done.
4. Tap Join.

During a meeting

Background effects may increase your battery usage. You may want to turn the effects off if your battery is low. Your video may be cropped to view other participants so some of the background or effect may not be visible to other participants.

Tip: To see how you look with a different background, check your self view.

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How can we improve it?

If you are an avid user of Google Hangouts, we’ll need to inform you that this service is the latest entry on the long list of apps and services Google decided to replace or discontinue. It’s being replaced by a symbiosis of Google Chat and Google Meet. So, if you want to change Hangouts background, you might switch to Meet which actually supports different backgrounds and blurs.

How can I use a virtual background during Hangouts Video Chat?

As we said, Google decided to streamline all their communication services (excluding Messages) in a single app which is Gmail. In Gmail, you can find Google Hangouts and Meet at this moment, but soon Hangouts will be replaced by Google Chat. At least, you won’t have to download multiple apps.

Regardless, Google Hangouts doesn’t offer the functionality to change background either way. A good thing is that Google Meet does. Although it’s not there on all devices, if you have a device that runs Android 9 and newer or an iPhone, it should be available.

Here’s how to change the background in Google Meet video calls:

1. Open Gmail and select Meet from the bottom or Google Meet app.
2. Choose New or one of the existent meetings.
3. When you see your camera window, tap on the icon in the self-view window.
4. You can choose between various pre-installed backgrounds, use blur to blur your surroundings (like in the portrait camera mode), or even add any picture from your gallery as a background.
   

You can remove backgrounds by selecting the No effects option that’s the first option in the toolbar.

That’s it. Hopefully, this was a helpful read and we answered your question. Thank you for reading and, if you have any additional questions, make sure to share them with us in the comments section below. We look forward to hearing from you.

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