Google rolled out last month the ability to blur or replace video chat backgrounds in Meet on Android. At that time, the search giant vowed to expand the feature to iOS sometime in the future.
Today, the search giant made good on its promise as it announced the availability of the feature on Apple's mobile devices. You can now blur or replace your background with any image hand-picked by Google. This includes photos of office spaces, landscapes, and abstract backgrounds, among others.
On top of Google's recommended image, you can also set your own photos as your meeting background. This is in contrast to how the feature is implemented in Android, where you can choose only from Google's pre-selected images. That said, the Mountain View-based giant promised to add the ability to select your personal images as your background on Android soon.
The feature comes in handy if you want to customize your background or put your messy surroundings out of sight when videoconferencing. And like on Android, you will need to manually switch on the capability on iOS since it's turned off by default. You can head over to Meet's support page to learn how to enable the feature.
In terms of compatibility, the feature works only with iPhone 8 and up, iPad 5th generation and up, or iOS 12 and later. It's now available to all Workspace and G Suite Basic/Business customers as well as those who are using personal Google accounts.
