Guide: How to Use Virtual Background in Google Meet
The use of video calls is on the rise. Almost every business and organization around the world is switching to video calling tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet to hold digital meetings and conferences. Google Meet is the newcomer, and the search giant recently made Google Meet free for everyone. While you don’t need to download and install an app on your computer, you can use virtual wallpapers to make your environment look a little different from the rest of the participants. While simple, Google Meet lacks several video calling features such as screen recording, background blur, virtual background, whiteboard, and more. To make up for some of them you can use Google Meet Chrome extensions. Using virtual backgrounds in meetings can be a serious differentiator that can represent your persona differently. I don’t prefer participants peeking into my background during video calls and noticing random things. Google has promised to bring background blur soon. In the meantime, if you want to use virtual wallpapers, there are a few solutions. In this post, we will do that guide you two best ways to use a virtual background in Google Meets. Let’s start.
Use virtual backgrounds for the Google Meet extension
As I mentioned earlier, you can use extensions from the Chrome web store to provide power up Google Meet experience. To add virtual backgrounds during conversations in Google Meet, we use the Virtual Background extension. Follow the steps below to enable the feature in Google Meet. Step 1: Go to the Chrome Web Store and search for virtual wallpaper in the search bar. Step 2: At the top, you’ll find Virtual Wallpaper for Google Meet. Download and install the extension in the Google Chrome browser. (You can also use this extension or any other extension from the Chrome Web Store for other Chromium-based browsers such as Microsoft Edge, Opera, Brave and more).
Download virtual backgrounds for Google Meet Step 3: After installation is complete, navigate to Google Meet on the web to create meetings. Step 4: Tap Start Meeting and select Join Now to start the video preview. Step 5: Tap the virtual background extension above and enable the extension.
The extension offers a lot of ready-to-use wallpapers to use in meetings. Tap the relevant one and you will see a live virtual wallpaper during Google Meet meetings.
The experience is far from perfect – check out the screenshot above. If you move your face a lot, you will notice that the video background distorts your video display during a meeting.
Use Snap Camera
Snap Camera is a free desktop application that brings the pleasure of lenses to your computer. You can use it without a Snapchat account or login. Snap Camera works as an add-on to all the video calling apps out there. Follow the steps below to use Snap Camera to change the background in Google Meet. Step 1: Go to the Snap Camera website and download the app for PC or Mac. Download snap Camera Step 2: After successful installation, open the Snap Camera app. Step 3: You will see hundreds of lenses made by community members with live preview. Step 4: Select the lens you prefer and apply it. Use live preview mode to have a look at the result.
Step 5: Close the Snap Camera app. Do not you worry. The app is still running in the background. Step 6: Open a web browser and go to Google Meet. Step 7: You need to change Google Meet settings to use Snap Camera as the default video camera on the service. Tap the Settings icon in the top right corner.
Step 8: Go to the Video tab and select Snap Camera of the camera menu. From now on, when you start video calling on Google Meet, it will switch to the Snap Camera as the default video feed and use the selected lens to change the background.
You always go back to the Snap Camera app and select a different lens to change the style and background. Pro tip Like how you changed the default video camera on Google Meet to use Snap Camera, users can apply the same trick to Zoom and Microsoft Teams to apply Snapchat lenses.
Share Screen in Google Meet
Google Meet allows you to share screens with participants. It is essential if you want to show the current screen and discuss the topic in detail. Before starting a meeting, you can tap Present now button in the lower right corner and select one of the two options: share the entire screen or application window.
Your full screen option will share the current screen with participants. A window option allows you to choose from currently open windows from the PC or Mac. When sharing screens from Google Meet, several are missing features compared to Microsoft Teams and Zoom. For example, there is no whiteboard function. You also cannot draw on the display while sharing screens. I would like to see Google Drive integration to share files from the cloud service.
Hide your background in Google Meet
Google Meet has the basics right. But at the same time, it lacks a few useful ones features such as virtual background, blur background, whiteboard, etc. For virtual background, you can use Chrome extension or Snap Camera to add some style during video calls. For the rest, we will have to wait for the future updates. The next up: Confused between Google Hangouts and Meet? Read the comparison post below to find out the difference between two video calling apps.
How to Use Virtual Background in Google Meet: benefits
Faq
Final note
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