Thanks to the rise of WhatsApp and other free calling and messaging apps, Skype is no longer the go-to service it once was for many people. But the company just added a new feature that might raise its appeal among users.
The Microsoft-owned service’s latest addition is a screen-blurring feature designed to obscure your messy room or any other background details that you’d rather weren’t on display to the other party on the line.
Skype said that the feature — which is similar to the blurring added to Microsoft Teams last year — uses artificial intelligence to keep the focus on the caller. That also means it will detect features such as hair, hands and arms.
The feature is rolling out to Skype for desktop, although it doesn’t support web and mobile apps yet. It can be enabled in Skype’s settings or from the video call button inside the service.
Note: The original version of this post was corrected to reflect that the feature is not available on web or mobile.
