One of the best Microsoft Teams features comes to more users

Background effects will soon be available to more users of virtual desktops.

Microsoft is preparing an update for collaboration platform Teams that will bring one of its most popular features to a wider group of users.

According to two
new items
on the Microsoft 365 product roadmap, Microsoft is extending the ability to replace and fade the background of a video call to people running on Citrix and VMware virtual desktops.

The update is currently in development, but should roll out to relevant Microsoft Teams users sometime next month.

Microsoft Teams backgrounds

Since the transition to remote working, almost all major video conferencing vendors have rolled out virtual background functionality, which allows users to block the space behind them with an overlay of their choice.

A more subtle option is to blur the background, which has the dual effect of obscuring anything incriminating that might be around a bedroom or home office and focuses attention on the person’s face.

Although Microsoft Teams has offered such a feature for some time, it has traditionally been available only to users of its desktop and mobile clients.

After adding background effects to the web client and teams on Azure Virtual Desktop or Windows 365 earlier this year, the feature is now being made available to users of citrix and vMware virtual desktops.

The overall goal is to ensure that the meeting experience is consistent across all Microsoft Teams users, regardless of what client or hardware they use.

In addition to the virtual backgrounds feature, Microsoft has made a number of recent additions to Teams with this goal in mind, including the ability to take advantage of end-to-end encryption when dialing in from the office, combine work and business accounts, and access Gain access to screen sharing controls for all clients.

Source: tech radar