You’ve probably heard about Zoom and its surge in popularity after the world was hit by coronavirus that forced us all to stay at home and work remotely, too. It was Zoom that became the life-saving, connecting link in the work team, and not only in the work team. Zoom is so well-recognized in all circles that we shouldn’t be surprised by its popularity.

After all, the app has everything for a convenient video call – from group sessions to personalization of the meeting process. In addition, Zoom gives you a good selection of tools to improve and raise your video conferencing experience to a new level. In addition to useful options, this program is available to everyone – that is, you don’t have to pay for it. Although some of the features are limited in the free version, the latter gives you enough to appreciate Zoom.

What is Zoom

Zoom is a program for video conferencing, that is, such connections via the Internet, where several users can video and text chat simultaneously (in the free version – up to 100 users with video). You can show your screen, there’s an online board where you can write and draw, and let others write on the board. All these users can talk at the same time, so the organizer can control their sound: allow them to turn on microphones and prohibit microphones.

Users can be divided into groups (Session Rooms) during the conference so that they can lead their own mini-conferences within the group. There’s also a chat room, a video recording of the conference, a Raise Hand function, a Pin, etc. in the conference. In addition, you can:

• Schedule a conference for a specific time.
• Make a recurring conference.
• Set a password for entering.
• Allow entering only after the organizer’s permission for each participant (Waiting Room).
• Prohibit new participants from joining after the start of the conference.
• Set a virtual background instead of your own.
• End the conference.

The range of paid features is quite wide. Purchase of the paid version will add more features – the one that removes the time limit, allows you to plan a conference, and even connect to the conference with a third-party program – Skype for business. And, depending on the selected pricing plan, it will also add the ability to install a company logo, a dedicated phone number for technical support, and additional functions of user management, such as two organizers in the conference Zoom.

Read Also:

• How to cast a Zoom meeting to your TV
• Why is your Zoom connection unstable and how to fix this
• How to pin someone on Zoom

What about customizing Zoom background

Now let’s move on to practice. If you’re already somewhat familiar with a similar app for making calls and video calls – then you should have no problem finding the Settings for customization. Well, if this is your first experience with such an app, then let’s get to the bottom of it.

So, you need to hide the background behind you the next time you make a video call. This is very easy to do, thanks to Zoom, they even added not only the Blur option (which expands the background behind) but also the ability to add pictures to the background (even your own, custom ones). Here’s how to adjust the background through the Settings in Zoom:

• Launch Zoom and sign in to your account.
• Towards the top-right, click on the “Settings” gear icon option.

• In “Settings,” select “Backgrounds & Effects.”

• Then select the “Blur” option, and your background will appear blurred straight away.

However, if you need to change the background urgently during a video conference, here’s how to do it through the menu in the chat room itself:

• On the meeting screen, locate the bar at the bottom. You might have to move your mouse to the bottom to make it visible.
• Locate the “Stop Video” button with an upwards-pointing. Then select the “Blur” option, and your background will appear blurred straight away.

• Also, you can choose the same “Stop Video” button, and click on the Video Settings.

• There, select “Backgrounds & Effects” and the “Blur” option, and your background will appear blurred straight away.

Now you know that changing the background and adjusting other parameters in Zoom is easy enough and you can update the backgrounds at any time. And not only – the profile name and photo can also be changed even during the videoconference itself.

Is there an option to change a background in Zoom via Android

Now consider the situation where you don’t have access to your PC or laptop, but you have an urgent task to call your co-workers and to your greater disappointment you’re asked to turn on your camera. But you don’t like the fact that you’re on public transport and you’re uncomfortable showing other people standing nearby. In this case, don’t worry, the background can also be changed from the Android device. Here’s how to do it:

• Open the Zoom app on your Android phone or tablet. Join a meeting or create a new meeting with video-enabled.

• Tap the screen to bring up the controls and select the “More” button.

• From the pop-up menu, select “Virtual Background.” You won’t see this option if your device doesn’t support Virtual Backgrounds.
• There you’ll find a Blur option.

However, before you do this, you must have the “Virtual Background” option activated in the “Settings” section on your profile, under the “In Meeting (Advanced)” section. If it’s not activated, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to blur your background from your mobile device. Although in general, this option must be enabled by default.

How to change user pic in Zoom

Have you ever taken a cool selfie and wanted to post it on every social network you can? Great, you can also change your profile picture in Zoom. Moreover, you can delete it just as easily at any time if you don’t like the result. Here’s how to update your profile picture in Zoom:

• Log into your Zoom account and select Settings.

• Click Profile, and you’ll see the option to change your profile picture. Select Edit my profile.

• Upload the picture you want and adjust it to fit well.

Just refresh the page and voila! – You have a new fresh profile picture. Also, when you installed it, you probably noticed that the photo can be edited in resize. I.e. if you don’t like that your face isn’t visible, just move the slider to the right to make a larger photo. Moreover, don’t forget that your picture shouldn’t exceed 2MB in size and should be in one of the following formats: PNG, JPG (or JPEG), or GIF.

Read Also:

• How to make Zoom meeting start without a host
• How to fix the Zoom share screen not working
• How to fix the ‘unable to join Zoom meeting’ error

Why user pic is important in the conferencing

In general, everyone probably understands how important it’s to have a profile picture, especially in a working environment where it’s very important to establish communication. Instead of live communication, you should at least make the bare minimum in order to create an effect of presence and openness in front of your colleagues. It’s especially important if you don’t like to make video calls very often, in which case it’s better to set up your own profile picture.

Also, in addition to the fact that the real photo subconsciously makes you more alive and closer to the person you’re talking to, it also shows a bit of information about you. Even a personal photo with a cat can say a lot about you as a person and make your colleagues or employers more open to conversation with you.

So, don’t think that the profile picture is a trifle, and isn’t worth attention. It’s indeed worth it! At least that will create an impression about you to other people and may even influence the atmosphere of the conversation. Don’t skimp on a good quality photo, try not to take it in bad resolution and poor light as much as possible.

This is much better when you know for sure where and how you can change the background in Zoom and your profile picture. Knowing these options will make it easier for you to use Zoom and customize it to your liking.