Microsoft now lets you spice up your Teams calls with custom backgrounds
Now you can either clean up a messy background or, let’s face it, have a little fun.
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What you need to know
More people are working from home now than ever, and Microsoft is adding to Teams' features to help make the transition a little smoother. One of the latest features to hit the service is custom backgrounds, which Microsoft announced are nowgenerally availablein Teams. There are also a few other features set to roll out in the coming weeks and months that should come in handy in your meetings.
Custom backgrounds use some of the same tech that Microsoft used in creating the “background blur” feature for Teams calls. You can choose from a selection of images, and it will magically replace what people see behind you on any video call. From Microsoft:
Custom backgrounds, which allow you to replace your background in Teams meetings with a fresh and bright home office, for example, is now generally available in Teams. This feature builds upon background blur, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to blur the environment behind you. In the future, we will also include the ability to upload your own custom images.
In addition to custom backgrounds, Microsoft is also in the process of bringing some other handy features to your Teams meetings. Here’s a look:
The news comes on the heels of Microsoft revealing some newmilestonesas Teams usage has surged over the last month. Those include 2.7 billion minutes of calls made in just one day, and a 1,000 percent growth in video calls for March.
If you want to give Teams a try, you can give it a shot for free by downloading the software from theofficial Teams site. While it’s still meant mostly for businesses, Microsoft also recently announced that it’s launchingTeams for consumersas part of a broader Microsoft 365 consumer push later this year.
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Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter@DthorpLand Instagram@heyitsdtl.
