Google Meet has, for some reason, unveiled three new face filters for its video conferencing software, and they’re all, without exception, pretty off-putting. Recently and thanks to an announcement on the Google Workspace Updates blog, Google Meet users can now, should they want to, choose to have a log or a strawberry for a head, or be cast as a rabbit in an office. Let’s take a look at these weird features.
Google Meet has new updates
Google Meet is known for being the most chosen platform by many companies for participating in remote meetings which also provides you with some filters and backgrounds you can use to make your meetings funnier.
However, its latest update has impressed and even terrified its users as its new filters blur the line between fun and creepy. Currently, Google Meet has announced this handful of new filters to “help bring an element of fun to meetings among which three in particular stand out.
First of all, we have the log head (you can put your face into a log), there’s also a working bunny (not too bad but still weird), lastly, we have to highlight the strawberry one that’s downright creepy. Actually, it vokes the same vibes as filters on Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok, yet there’s something about it that just looks… off.
How to activate them?
In any case, you can enable it by going inte the Apply visual effects section where you can use all other filters in addition to these. On the other hand, it’s important to know that these effects are part of an extended fifteen day rollout that began on 21 December. Thus, if you’d like to give these new filters a spin, they should become available for everyone within the next 15 days.
These bizarre and upsetting effects are at the extreme end of what Google Meet offers. There are also virtual backgrounds, allowing users to pretend to be working at the beach or in the midst of a blizzard, and even just basic blurs, allowing users to hide the clutter in their busy workrooms. But undoubtedly, nothing is as strange and creepy as these new effects.
Management controls
Nonetheless, for those users who are feeling uncomfortable due to the Meet’s weird strategy to give its interface a different tone, you have to know that admin controls are here to save the day.
You see, administrators now have the option of turning the filters off for work and school accounts, so they are off automatically for Google Workspace Education users, but on default for users on all other Google Workspace plan users.
Final thoughts
Definitely, we can’t certainly say which other plans the Google team has for Meet’s interface. Although the first step towards the renovations has been quite strange, we hope that in the near future and based on user feedback, Google will add new features and filters a little more normal, At the moment, we can’t guarantee you won’t scar your co-workers for life if you use the strawberry one, though. What do you think about Meet’s new video filters?