Google Meet's new update makes background blur and effects a bit cleaner

(Image credit: Jay Bonggolto / Android Central)

What you need to know

• Google Meet has made some changes to its background effects.
• Background blur and replacement are now more accurate than before.
• The update also reduces CPU usage and improves battery life by processing these effects in the cloud.

Google wants to make your background effects on Meet look a bit more professional by rolling out a few improvements that should make background blur and replacement more accurate.

The search giant has announced (opens in new tab) that Google Meet on the web has picked up improvements for quality and performance. If you often rely on the background blur and replace features a lot, this means you'll blend in nicely the next time you hop on a Meet call.

Google promises improved background and foreground separation with the latest update to one of the best video conference software. It is available to all users starting today, with no action required from admins and end-users.

The company also recognizes that not all devices are equipped with hardware that can handle real-time video effects well. On that note, Google will perform some of these tasks in the cloud to ensure that video effects still look good even if you're using a low-end device.

Google says it will adjust between device-based and cloud-based effect processing, which it claims will help to save battery life and CPU usage by up to 30% while improving the visual effects.

"The first effects supporting this capability are background blur and light adjustment," according to Google. "Support for additional effects, such as background replace, will be added in the future."

However, cloud-based processing is only available on Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus customers, and Workspace Individual tiers. Furthermore, it only supports eligible devices in Northern America, Europe, Northern Africa, Central Asia, and Southeastern Asia.

Jay Bonggolto

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News Writer

Jay Bonggolto always keeps a nose for news. He has been writing about consumer tech and apps for as long as he can remember, and he has used a variety of Android phones since falling in love with Jelly Bean. Send him a direct message via Twitter or LinkedIn.