Google working on new features for video conferencing on Chromebooks

SAN FRANCISCO: With an aim to enhance the video-conferencing experience on Chromebooks, tech giant Google is reportedly developing new built-in features that include background blur and other effects to improve lighting.

According to a potential feature flag, the Chrome OS team is developing a background blur effect, available on Apple's macOS machines powered by Apple Silicon, for Chromebooks, reports Android Central.

As per the report, background blur is a popular feature of many of the best video conference software, such as Google Meet. It is a useful tool for hiding your messy bedroom when video-calling your colleagues.

The report said that adding these effects to Chromebooks as a built-in feature will significantly improve user experience on the platform, which has traditionally lagged behind Windows PCs and MacBooks in terms of features.

The tech giant is also likely working on another feature called "Portrait Relighting," which is similar to a feature found in the Google Camera app for Pixel phones.

According to Google, Portrait Light "adds a simulated directional light source to portraits" to complement the lighting in the original photo.