When you are in a Zoom meeting you want to avoid any awkward momemts and maintain some privacy with respect to your meeting background. This feature is widely used in Zoom video meetings and its very easy to configure as well. Apart from blur option, you can also apply video virtual background, choose an image as background from pre loaded images or add your own Image as a video background.

There are few prerequisites to enable zoom blur background option. This is with respect to the version of Zoom Installed on your device. Very old versions of Zoom App will not have the blur background option. I have provided the minimum version requirements below. However, I would recommend you to always use the latest version of Zoom App and keep its setting to automatically update. Latest version of the app will provide most up to date features and all bug fixes.

Requirements for using Zoom blur background feature

Below are the requirements of using Zoom blur background feature:

• Zoom desktop client: 
  • Windows: 5.5.0 (12454.0131) or higher
  • macOS: 5.5.0 (12467.0131) or higher
  • Linux: 5.7.6 (31792.0820) or higher
• Zoom mobile app: 
  • Android: 5.6.6 (2076) or higher
  • iOS: 5.6.6 (423) or higher

Zoom setting to blur background on Windows

You can blur Zoom video meeting background before starting the meeting or you can also blur background after you have joined the meeting. We will look at both the options one by one starting with Blur option before starting Zoom Meeting.

Blur Zoom background before starting the meeting

To blur Zoom video background before you have started the meeting, You need to follow below steps:

1. Launch Zoom App and Sign in with your registered Email address and password.

2. Click on Settings Icon on the top right hand side corner.

3. Select Background & Effects from left hand side and Select Blur option under Virtual Backgrounds tab. Just close the window and start the meeting. You can see that there are other Virtual Background effects available as well. If you prefer any other background or even a video running as a background, then you can choose that option as well from Virtual Backgrounds tab.

Blur Zoom background after starting the meeting

You can blur Zoom background even after you have already joined the meeting. Let’s see how we can apply blur background while in the meeting.

1. Click on the arrow next to Stop Video and then click on Blur My Background.

You can also click on the arrow next to Stop Video and then click on Choose Virtual Background option and you will land on the Background & Effects settings page. While on the Background & Settings page, you can click on Blur under Virtual Backgrounds tab to apply Blur effect.

How to blur background in Zoom on Mac

If you are connecting to Zoom Meetings using your Mac device then you can follow below steps to easily blur Zoom meeting background. Please follow below steps to blur background in Zoom on Mac.

Blur Zoom background before starting the meeting

1. After you launch Zoom App, Sign in to the application using your registered email address and password. After you enter email address and password. Click on Sign In to proceed.

2. After you are successfully signed in, Click on the Settings Icon on the right hand side.

3. Click on Background & Effects on the left hand side and then Under Virtual Backgrounds click on Blur option to blur the zoom video background.

Blur Zoom background after starting the meeting

You can also blur Zoom video meeting background even after you have started / joined the meeting. There is now a quick setting available to Blur the background.

Click on Up arrow next to Stop Video and Click on Blur My Background to Blur Zoom Video Meeting Background.

There is also long route to Blur Zoom video meeting background. You can click on Up Arrow next to Stop Video and Click on Choose Virtual Background. This will take you to Background & Effects Settings option and from there you can click on Blur option under Virtual Backgrounds Tab.

When you take the long route to Blur Zoom video meeting background, there are more options available from Background & Effects Settings page apart from just Blur Background option. You can click on a different picture as a background or even choose a video as a zoom meeting background. But if you just want to Blur video background, Quick setting “Blur My Background” is the best and quickest way to Blur Zoom background.

How to blur background in Zoom on iPhone / Android

If you are connecting to Zoom Meetings using your iPhone or an Android Phone then you can follow below steps to easily blur Zoom meeting background.

1. After you launch Zoom App, Click on Sign In to Sign In on the App.

2. Enter your registered Email Address and Password and Click on Sign In to proceed.

3. After you have joined a meeting, you can click on three dots More option on the bottom right hand side.

4. After you click on three dots, you will get list of options to select. Select Background & Effects option.

5. Select Blur option under Virtual Backgrounds to Blur Zoom video Background. There are other options under Virtual Backgrounds apart from Blur, you can select a picture or click on Add to add a picture from your device as well.

How to add your own background in Zoom

There are some pre loaded Images available for you to select as a background image of your Zoom Video meeting. But if you do not like to use those Images and you have a custom / your own image which you want as a Zoom video background, you can select it and add that in Zoom.

Some companies create a custom image with company logo and send it to employees so that they can use it as a Zoom Video meeting background. Let’s see how you can easily add your own Image in Zoom.

1. Launch Zoom App and Sign in with your registered Email ID and password.

2. After you have successfully signed in. Click on Settings Icon on the right hand side.

3. On Settings page, Click on Background & Effects and Click on Virtual Background tab and then click on + Sign. Click on Add Image. Select your Custom / own Image and add it to the Virtual Backgrounds.

4. After you Add your custom / own Image, click on it to Select that Image for your Zoom Video Meeting Background.

FAQs on Zoom Meeting App

Below are frequently asked questions on Zoom Meeting Application.

How to Download Latest Version of Zoom Meeting App

Its always recommended to use the Latest version of Zoom meeting app to get the latest features, bug fixes and for application stability. To Download Latest version of Zoom App visit Zoom Download Center using below link:

Zoom Download Center: https://zoom.us/download

Zoom App does not show Blur Option

Blur option is not available in older Zoom Desktop Clients. To use Zoom blur option, make sure you are always using the latest version of Zoom Desktop client. However, below are the minimum version requirements for using Zoom blur Option.

• Zoom desktop client: 
  • Windows: 5.5.0 (12454.0131) or higher
  • macOS: 5.5.0 (12467.0131) or higher
  • Linux: 5.7.6 (31792.0820) or higher

• Zoom mobile app: 
  • Android: 5.6.6 (2076) or higher
  • iOS: 5.6.6 (423) or higher

Conclusion

In this blog post, we have seen how to blur Zoom video meeting background on Windows, Mac, Iphone and Android Devices. We also checked how you can add your own image as a zoom video meeting background. These are the most widely used features of Zoom app and I have seen users utilizing this feature quite often. Also, interesting is to add your own custom image as a zoom video meeting background.