How to blur your background in Google Meet calls to hide your surroundings and keep the focus on you

• You can blur your background in Google Meet calls to keep the focus on you, and away from your surroundings.
• You can open the "Change background" menu before or during a meeting to blur your background.
• When you blur your background, you can choose to blur it completely, or only a small amount.

Most early morning video calls take place soon after we've gotten out of bed. And although we might have enough time to brush our hair and put on nice clothes, cleaning your house is another story.

Putting your messy house or office on display over Google Meet can easily make you feel self-conscious. And even a tidy house can be distracting, especially if you have colorful furniture or people walking around.

Luckily, Google Meet offers a few different ways to change your background. One of the best is through blurring, which will obscure your background but keep you in focus.

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Blurring the background is an easy toggle on and off option. There's nothing to download and no complicated settings to change. Compared to cleaning your house, it's a breeze.

How to blur your background in Google Meet

You have two options when it comes to blurring your background.

First of all, you can do it before you even join a meeting by clicking the icon that looks like a person's head, and then selecting one of the first two options in the menu that appears.

If you've already entered a meeting, you can still blur your background easily.

1. Click the three-dot "more" button in the bottom right-hand corner.

2. Click "Change background."

3. The first two options are "Slightly blur your background" and "Blur your background." Select one.

4. Now your background is blurred. Go back to this "Change background" menu if you want something different. You can also remove the blurring by clicking the first option, which looks like a cancel sign.

This menu will also let you change your background to a picture, either uploaded from your computer or selected from the preset options.

Related coverage from Tech Reference:

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• How to cast a Google Meet video call from your computer to a TV screen

• How to present in Google Meet to share your computer or phone screen with meeting members

• How to chat in Google Meet on a computer or mobile device, and communicate with meeting members using the messaging feature

• How to use Google Meet on your iPhone to start or join a meeting, and access special features during a meeting