Monday, June 7, 2021

Replace your background with a video in Google Meet

What’s changing

In addition to replacing your Google Meet background with a static image, you can now replace your background with a video. At the moment, you can select from three Google made videos: a classroom, a party, and a forest — more options will be available soon.


A person video calling using Google Meet with an animated background featuring cartoon characters dancing under a disco ball.
Use a video background to make calls more fun.


Who’s impacted

End users


Why you’d use it

Custom backgrounds can help you show more of your personality, as well help hide your surroundings to maintain privacy. With the option of replacing your background with video, we hope this makes your video calls more fun.


Additional details

Initially available on the web only, coming to mobile soon
Background Video will initially only be available when using Google Meet on the web. We’ll make it available on mobile in the coming months — we’ll post an update on the Workspace Updates Blog when it becomes available.

Requires Chrome M87+
Starting on June 30, 2021, the replace background feature for both video and image backgrounds will require Chrome version M87+ (released November 2020). Update your Chrome to make sure you can continue to use the feature.


Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to control whether users can change their backgrounds in Meet. Note: the “Let users select custom images” option is disabled by default for Google Workspace for Education customers.

End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about changing your background in a video meeting.


Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout to eligible devices (up to 7 days for feature visibility) starting on June 7, 2021
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout to eligible devices (up to 7 days for feature visibility) starting on Jun 18, 2021


Availability

Available to all Workspace users. Also available if you're using Google Meet with a personal Google account.


Resources