How to Blur Your FaceTime Background on Your Mac
Apple added several enhancements to FaceTime with the release of macOS Monterey. These include video and audio effects like Portrait mode, spatial audio, wide spectrum mode, and voice isolation mode.
Portrait mode is a software-based video effect that allows you to blur the background so that the focus is on you and not your room. This is a good feature if you don’t want others to see your background but don’t want to use a fake background. This is also ideal if you have a busy environment with people or children peeking around or walking past you in the background.
However, this is only available on Mac with Apple silicon chips. To use the feature:
Open FaceTime. Click Control Center on the menu bar. Select Video Effects, then click Portrait. The Portrait icon will appear green once the feature is turned on.
Add a Little Bit of Privacy
Blurring your FaceTime background ensures that people’s focus will be on you, instead of on the whatever’s happening in the background. Sadly, the blur is not adjustable. If you find that the blur is not enough, you can always try fake background images instead.
Don’t worry, you can also blur the background in FaceTime if you’re making the call from your iPhone or iPad instead. You’ll need to make sure your device is new enough though.
