Microsoft Teams now lets you add custom backgrounds

You can now add your own background to Microsoft Teams video chats, Microsoft said Friday. Designed for business and education, Teams includes group chat, video calling and collaboration tools and has seen a spike in usage since countries and states have started directing residents to stay and work from home when possible to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

With the update to Microsoft's collaboration tool, you can now pick a custom image as your video chat background. Microsoft said that in the future you'll also be able to create your own images, upload them to Teams and then select them as a background image for your video chats. The Zoom video chat service also lets you pick your own custom background images for calls. But with recent concerns about Zoom security, some users are starting to look to other services such as Teams for their chats.

You can have video chats with up to 250 people in Microsoft Teams, and if your workplace or school has access to Office 365, you already have access to it. You can also check out a free version of Microsoft's communication tool.