New video filters coming to Teams meetings today

by Alexandru Poloboc

With an overpowering desire to always get to the bottom of things and uncover the truth, Alex spent most of his time working as a news reporter, anchor,… read more

Published on January 31, 2023

Ever since the global COVID-19 pandemic triggered this new era of hybrid work, more and more people have been relying on communication platforms such as Teams.

Microsoft is doing its best to constantly update the app and bring it up to standards, but sometimes the service fails.

If you are having trouble and the breakout room isn’t working in Teams meetings, you will find all the help you need right here.

We can also show you how to use the Teams chat monitoring feature if that is something you are required to do.

Soon enough, the Redmond-based tech giant will add yet another neat functionality to the Teams app, so there will be more to fiddle with.

The new video filters are rolling out today

For some time, Microsoft’s own Skype app and rival platform Zoom have had the ability for years to make online video meetings much more interesting through several video filters.

For some reason, however, Teams was deprived of support for such visual effects for a long time. That changes today, as Microsoft has finally started rolling out new video filters for Teams.

Now, as you know, video filters in Teams aren’t exactly new. Teams desktop app allows you to tweak some basic stuff, such as the ability to control brightness.

That being said, know that Teams’ latest video filter offering aims to take the whole chatting experience to another level.

Besides the already popular brightness controller, Teams users will have the ability to add a bunch of different Frames and Styles to augment the video stream experience.

The Teams app allows users to apply video filters from the quick tray in the pre-join screen and it is also possible to apply these visual effects after joining a meeting from the meeting toolbar.

However, as you Teams aficionados know, you need to be in Public Preview to use this feature, so make sure you keep that in mind.

These video filters are available as apps developed by Microsoft and third-party partners and, as a result, applying video filters will require your consent to install the apps.

If you are wondering about platform support, know that Windows and macOS are currently the supported platforms for you to try the new visual effects.

There aren’t any known issues that come with these features, but Microsoft did note that there will be some limitations to them.

First, the video filters can be enabled/disabled by app level from the Tenant Admin Center, and second, this new feature is not available to EDU tenants.

What other interesting features do you think Microsoft should consider adding to the Teams app? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.