- February 11, 2019
- Posted by:
- Category: Information Technology
Microsoft has started rolling out new updates for Skype that add the background blur feature to video calls. This feature will enable you to blur the background while on video calls to protect you from embarrassing moments.
Background Blur is a feature Microsoft announced during the Ignite 2018 conference that was first added to Microsoft Teams. As working from a remote office is becoming more common, this feature was aimed to let you work from a home office without fear of someone bursting into your room during a call and embarrassing you.
When Background Blur was first announced for Microsoft Teams it was intended to completely blur your background. Based on the image for the Skype feature it appears that the blue is more subtle and may not completely blur what is happening behind the person.
As this feature is AI driven, Microsoft states that they will try to always keep your background blurred, but can’t guarantee it. This means you should not have something going on in the background that you do not want to risk being seen by others.
“We do our best to make sure that your background is always blurred, but we cannot guarantee that your background will always be blurred.” stated Microsoft’s Skype announcement.
To enable Background Blur while making a Skype call, you can follow these steps:
1. Hover over the screen to bring up the video options.
2. Hover over the video icon to bring up further options.
3. Now enable to the “Blur my background” toggle.
This feature is currently available on Skype versions for most desktops, but we have not spotted a new version of Skype on the Microsoft Store as of yet.
