Why Zoom blurred background option is not available to you on Mac

Zoom Meetings are a simplified video conferencing solution for an optimized virtual meeting experience. If you are looking for help with Virtual Background compatibility or troubleshooting. Please start by checking the list of requirements outlined below to make sure your version or device supports it. Here are some related videos: How to download a shared ZOOM recording, how to install Zoom video conference software in Linux System, how to fix unable to access the microphone on Zoom, how to update Zoom Desktop Client on macOS, how to install Zoom on macOS Big Sur, Mojave, Catalina, High Sierra, and Capitan, and how to stop Zoom App from launching automatically at startup on Mac. Here you will learn why Zoom blurred background option is not available to you on Mac”.

Starting with Zoom update 5.5 which was released on the 1st of February, 2021. It included the ability to blur your background. Note that you can select a specific virtual background of your choice. You will find more information about this information in this link. Please see How to uninstall, reinstall, and update Zoom on Mac. And how to Add Dynamic Wallpaper controlled by time on Windows 10 and 11.

Starting December 2022, Zoom will be ending support for iOS 10 and below. You will need to be on iOS 11 or later in order to continue receiving updates.

The Virtual Background feature allows you to display an image or video as your background during a Zoom meeting. Which can provide you with more privacy or a consistent and professional look for a presentation. Depending on the device you are joining the meeting with, you can use the Virtual Background feature with or without the use of a green screen behind you, with the system requirements being higher for the virtual background without a green screen.

What is the reason for this behavior?

But, when you are struggling to use the Blur or it is entirely not available to you. It is likely that your computer processor does not meet the system requirements due to it being from a generation that is not supported.

The blur background feature requires the desktop computer meet the "Images only without a green screen" requirements

This feature requires significantly more CPU (central processing unit) and GPU (graphics processing unit) power than using a virtual background with a green screen. So devices without the minimum processor specifications will not show Blur background as an available option. 

You may want to refer to the following list of requirements refer to the virtual background without a green screen system requirements, which are the same for the blurred background feature.

How to find the generation of a computer processor

Please see the below requirements. Here is the link to learn more about Zoom Virtual Background requirements for Zoom desktop clients.

• Zoom desktop client, 4.6.0 or higher
• macOS version 10.13 or higher
• Supported processors
  1. Apple M1  
  2. i5-6000 or higher! Note: 6th generation i5 dual-core processor, requires macOS 10.14 or higher
  3. i7-4000 or higher

Note: For macOS devices, you must have 6th generation or later. The generation of your processor can be determined by the first digit (or two) of the processor number that appears after the hyphen (–), while the remaining 3 digits are the model number. For example, an Intel i7-6700 is the 700 model of the 6th generation of i7 processors.

As you can see, this device does meet the requirement. To determine if your device meets the requirement, kindly follow the steps below.

• Open the Terminal application.
• Enter the following command:sysctl machdep.cpu.brand_string

FAQ: You are not required to download Zoom before joining, but you will have access to limited functionality if you join from your browser. The web browser client will download automatically when you start or join your first Zoom meeting. Zoom can be downloaded from this link.

I hope you found this blog post helpful on why Zoom blurred background option is not available to you on Mac. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comment session.