Google Meet has been one of the most popular apps for having video meetings these past few months. But as much as people love the app, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that they’ve felt the absence of one feature that’s a cult favorite with everyone rather profusely.

But Google Meet has finally bridged that gap and brought the Background Replace and Blur feature to all accounts. All users of Google Meet, regardless of their account type (free or paid), can now use the ‘Change Background‘ feature in meetings.

The feature is currently available only when using Google Meet on a browser or Chromebook but will soon make its way to the mobile app too. There are a couple of options to blur your background and a good set of preset images to replace your background present.

But what’s interesting is that Google has also rolled out the option to upload an image from your computer as your background with the initial launch of the feature. Where many other apps did not include the custom feature with the initial rollout, it was fitting that Google did not make its users wait any further, considering how long everyone had already been waiting.

Note: The custom background feature won’t be available for participants of meetings organized by Education customers.

How to Use a Custom Background in Google Meet

You can set a custom image from your computer as the background both before or during the meeting.

To select a custom image from your computer as the background image before a meeting, click the ‘Change background’ button on the bottom right corner of the Preview window of the Ready to Join page.

The menu for changing your background will appear at the bottom of the preview window. Click the ‘+’ icon that says ‘Use image from disk’ when you hover on it.

Tip: If you can’t appropriate custom images, head over to Google Meet Background Images website to browse and download backgrounds.

An ‘Open’ dialog box will appear. Select and open the image from your computer that you want to use as your background. You’ll be able to see the preview of the image as your background in the preview window. Click on ‘Join now’ to join the meeting with the current background. Or, click on the ‘+’ icon again to select another background from your disk.

You can also select a custom image as your background during the meeting. Click the ‘More Options’ icon (three-dot menu) on the right of the meeting toolbar. Then select ‘Change background’ from the menu.

The window to change your backgrounds will open on the right. Click the ‘+’ icon to select a custom image.

Meet stores the custom images you use so you can easily use them again in the future. They appear after the blur your background, but before any of the preset images from Google on the menu. To delete a custom image from Google Meet, hover on the image and click the ‘Delete’ icon.

Custom backgrounds are a fun way to choose a background in the meeting that reflects your personality better than the stock options from Google while also doing the job. Also, at launch, there won’t be any admin control available for this feature. But Google says it will introduce it later this year, so admins will be able to control whether or not organization users will be able to use custom backgrounds.