Google only recently opened up Meet to everyone in preparation of shutting down Hangouts altogether and is now taking action to make the platform as feature-complete as possible. In that vein, Google seems to be working on background blurring for Meet, a function that's been available in competing products for ages, including Google's own Duo video-calling service.

9to5Google took a look at the code of the most recent version of Meet currently rolling out to the Play Store, 41.5, and found evidence that the app will soon allow background blurring. Some strings leave only little room for speculation:

<string name=”background_blur_disabled”>Background blur turned off</string>

<string name=”background_blur_enabled”>Background blur turned on</string>

<string name=”turn_off_background_blur”>Turn off background blur</string>

<string name=”turn_on_background_blur”>Turn on background blur</string>

With the feature popping up in the Android version, we can only assume that the company is also working on bringing it to the web, which is probably what most people use when they engage with the platform in a professional context. We don't know when Google will release the privacy tool, but it will likely make an announcement before it starts rolling it out, as with most of its business-focused features. Background blurring also won't bring Meet on-par with Zoom, which lets you add an image of your choice as a backdrop.

A look at Google Duo's background blurring.

As background blurring is still under active development, installing the latest version won't magically enable it for you, but it's still always a good idea to stay up-to-date for security reasons. You can get it on the Play Store or over at APK Mirror.

Source: 9to5Google