New Zoom avatars replace your face with animals during meetings

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Zoom is looking to take some of the stress away from virtual meetings with its latest update introducing avatars. Avatars let users replace their faces with cartoon animals that mimic their facial expressions.

The company revealed the new avatars as part of the Zoom version 5.10.0 update in a blog post on its website. The new feature is available on both Windows and macOS. And you can even use it on the iOS mobile version of the app as well.

Zoom’s avatars feature lets you pick from a group of different animals. You can choose to be a cat, dog, rabbit, fox, or even a cow. Additionally, you can pick from a couple of different outfit options for each avatar.

The app uses technology combined with your device’s camera to detect your facial movements and expressions. Zoom will then replace your face entirely with the avatar you select.

Enabling the new avatars looks pretty simple. When in a meeting, just open the options by clicking the arrow next to the ‘Stop Video’ button.

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Then find Choose Virtual Background and select the Avatar tab on the right. Simply choose the avatar you want to replace your own face, and you’re good to go.

These avatars seem like a fun little update to the Zoom app. It could potentially make the inevitably mundane meetings that work from home life has created a little better. Or even just lead to a fun conversation topic when you’re connecting with friends or family.

Either way, the feature is available now, so try it out in your next Zoom call and see what people think.

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