Skype spices up video calls with custom backgrounds

You're probably already tired from all that home-dwelling and need a change of scenery. Skype opts to do something about this. The popular app is adding custom backgrounds to spice up your video calls. Sure, that pretty forest behind you is not real, but it can freshen up the mundane living room background your video call partners see over and over again.

With the lockdown situation, people are relying on communication services like FaceTime, Google Meet, Snapchat, and Skype, of course. Adding this new feature to the latter can draw new users in this time of social isolation. Zoom, for instance, already has custom backgrounds, and Micorosft added the same feature to Teams recently.


You can add a custom background to the latest version of Skype on Windows, Mac, Linux, and the web. The feature can be found under Settings -> Audio & Video right next to the blurred background option Microsoft added recently. The company recommends using images in landscape orientation, and custom images need to be saved locally on your desktop as well.

Now go ahead and lay on that beautiful beach or realize your childhood dream and become an astronaut. Venus space station out.