Zoom introduces avatars that allow users to virtually turn into animals

Zoom is introducing a new functionality for its video calls that allows users to pretend to be an animal on screen. According to the company, the avatars are intended to make meetings a bit more cheerful.

As always, the avatar function registers your movements via the webcam during a meeting, but shows you on screen as an animal. From the first images from Zoom, it seems that you can at least choose from a dog, rabbit, cat, fox, cow and raccoon.

You could already adjust your background in Zoom and it was also possible to “stick” a virtual mustache on your face, for example. The avatars make you completely unrecognizable. Zoom will initially only introduce animal avatars, but doesn’t rule out expanding the range at a later date.

The avatars are available at for Zoom on Windows, Mac and iOS. To activate the avatars, version 5.10.0 or higher must be installed. If you are not the owner of the Zoom account yourself, an administrator must first activate the functionality before it becomes visible in the app. Once this is done, avatars can be found in the same menu where you can also change your background.