WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world, allowing you to easily keep in touch with friends and family through text, voice, and video. One fun feature that WhatsApp has recently added is the ability to change your background during video calls. This lets you blur out a messy room, add some privacy, or just have a bit of fun by setting a custom image as your background. Here’s how you can change your background in WhatsApp video calls on Android devices.
Changing Your Background on Samsung Phones
If you have a recent Samsung Galaxy phone like the S23, changing your video call background is quick and easy:
- Start a WhatsApp video call as you normally would
- While in the call, tap the floating video icon button on the screen
- In the menu that appears, tap on Background
- You’ll see options to Blur your background or select an Image to use instead
- If blurring, tap the Blur option. The background behind you will become blurred.
- If using an image, tap Image. Then select a photo from your phone’s gallery.
- Once you’ve made your selection, tap Done to apply the new background
Your background will immediately change so only you are clearly visible, with the background blurred or replaced by the image you selected. This only affects your video feed – the other person on the call will not see the background changes you made.
Some additional tips for Samsung devices:
- To turn off background changes, follow the steps above and select the None option
- You can change your background at any time during the video call
- Background settings are not persistent – they reset for each new video call
- Currently only certain Samsung models like the S23 support video background changes
Changing Backgrounds on Other Android Phones
Unfortunately, the ability to change your background during a WhatsApp call is quite limited on Android currently. It is mainly available on newer Samsung Galaxy devices. Most other Android phones, including popular models from Google, Motorola, OnePlus, and Xiaomi do not have an official way to change the background.
The good news is that WhatsApp appears to be slowly rolling out background features to more devices. In the future, we may see the option come to more Android phones and tablets. But for now, if you don’t have a supported Samsung device, you’ll need to use workarounds to change your background.
One potential option is to use a third-party video calling app that has virtual background features and then start a WhatsApp call from within that app. Apps like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet support custom backgrounds and can be used to place WhatsApp calls. The downside is that these apps are primarily meant for business use and may be overkill for personal calls with friends.
Another idea is to change your real environment so you have a presentable background. Some ideas:
- Tidy up the room you’re in so you have a clean, uncluttered background
- Sit in front of a bare wall for a simple, distraction-free background
- Go outside or sit near a window for some greenery or a view behind you
- Optimize your lighting by facing a window or lamp so you’re well lit
With a bit of creativity, you can still have a pleasant background for your video chats even without built-in background options. The key is finding a simple, non-distracting environment that keeps the focus on you.
Conclusion
The ability to change your background during a WhatsApp video call is a handy feature to have. It lets you hide a messy room, add privacy, or just have some fun with images and effects. Currently, this feature is only officially available on certain Samsung phones. But we may see it expand to other Android devices in the future.
If your phone doesn’t support background changes yet, you can still improve your video calling experience by tidying your space, optimizing lighting, and finding a good neutral background. With a few small tweaks, you can look your best while video chatting, no matter what device you’re using. And hopefully WhatsApp’s virtual background options will roll out more widely on Android soon so everyone can blur, change, and customize what’s behind them during calls.
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