Zoom has unveiled a series of new features for its video conferencing software, one of which could prevent users from making a serious workplace faux pas.

As explained in a blog post, Zoom administrators can now configure virtual backgrounds to reset to a chosen default after each meeting.

Strangely, the official rationale is that the feature will help avoid situations whereby sensitive data is exposed in a virtual background, which feels like a fringe scenario. More beneficial will be the peace of mind afforded to people who regularly use the virtual background feature for non-work purposes.

New Zoom features

Since the transition to remote working, the number of Zoom customers has expanded dramatically and the software is now used for all manner of purposes, both professional and personal.

Zoom became the go-to platform for quizzes, yoga classes,  virtual parties and more during Covid lockdowns. And while many people are returning to in-person events as societies open up, online collaboration services like Zoom still play a larger role in the private sphere than they ever did before.

With this in mind, it’s easy to imagine a scenario in which someone forgets to remove an inappropriate background before the end of a personal video call, leading to an embarrassing situation on a Monday morning. But with the latest Zoom update, this need no longer be a concern.

The option to automatically reset virtual backgrounds is just one of a number of changes bundled with the latest Zoom update.

The company has also rolled out a feature that allows meeting hosts to add a video to the virtual waiting room, which will play while participants wait to be allowed into the call, and admins can also now enable and disable the watermark feature in the middle of a meeting.

Lastly, Zoom has doubled down on its feature set for international collaboration. The language used in the Zoom client will now be dictated by the language applied in the user’s browser, and meeting hosts can now enable the language interpretation feature by default when scheduling a meeting.