Ready to ditch the boring Zoom calls? Your virtual meeting space is about to get a major glow-up. With Zoom’s virtual backgrounds and now AI-generated designs, you can transform any meeting into a polished, creative, or downright fun experience in seconds.
Zoom’s Immersive View takes it even further, placing you and your team inside shared virtual scenes that feel more connected and far more professional than the standard grid. Whether you want a sleek office, a cozy lounge, or a playful themed backdrop, there are millions of options to match your vibe.
Perfect for hosting clients, running team meetings, or simply standing out, the right background can instantly elevate your presence and add personality to every call.
Let’s break down how it works and how to find the best immersive backgrounds to level up your next Zoom meeting.
Key Takeaways
- Learn how to turn on Zoom Immersive View on desktop or mobile for personal calls, team meetings, or full-organization use.
- Customize scenes, place participants, and choose layouts that make your meetings visually engaging.
- Get tips for using free immersive backgrounds, including screen-sharing limits and participant caps.
- Apply immersive or custom backgrounds instantly by selecting your design and clicking Apply.
- Use filters to add personality, polish, or seasonal flair to your virtual setup.
- Choose high-quality background files to keep your meetings looking sharp and professional.
- Download and organize Zoom-optimized backgrounds for quick switching during calls.
- Add your logo to custom backgrounds for stronger branding and a polished appearance.
Understanding Zoom immersive view
Zoom Immersive View revolutionizes virtual meetings by crafting an innovative virtual space that accommodates up to 25 participants. With the immersive view feature, hosts can customize the virtual background and position attendees within the immersive view scene, bringing everyone together in a creative, engaging environment. Immersive view backgrounds can be based on user preferences or meeting themes, allowing for a tailored virtual experience.
Looking to make your next Zoom meeting more engaging? With Zoom virtual backgrounds and Immersive View, you can place participants into shared scenes that feel more connected and fun. Whether you manually arrange people or let Zoom do it for you, it’s easy to set the tone with different layouts, from gallery view to speaker view, plus a variety of preset scenes to match the mood. You can use images and photos as backgrounds to further personalize your meeting space.
Popular immersive background themes include education and outer space, offering both professional and imaginative options for your meetings. You can also adjust colors in your backgrounds to match your branding or set a specific mood. Changing backgrounds is simple, letting you easily switch scenes to suit different meeting contexts.
Just tweak a few Zoom settings, and you’re ready to bring your next virtual meeting to life.
Requirements for using Zoom immersive view
Before immersing yourself in the realm of virtual meetings, verify if your device fulfills the necessary requirements for Zoom Immersive View. For desktop users, confirm you have macOS or Windows version 5.6.3 or higher. Mobile users can participate in Immersive View, but a desktop user must start the feature. Using a green screen can further improve the quality of your virtual backgrounds.
When downloading files or images for your Zoom immersive view backgrounds, make sure they are compatible with Zoom's requirements to provide smooth performance.
Bear in mind, the immersive view feature is specifically tailored for video participants. If a participant’s video is off, they will not appear within the immersive scene. So, make sure your camera is on and get ready to immerse yourself in a whole new virtual meeting experience!
Desktop requirements
Operating Zoom Immersive View on macOS or Windows requires the Zoom desktop client version 5.6.3 or higher. This guarantees that all participants can be placed onto a single virtual background, creating a seamless and engaging experience for everyone involved.
For the best immersive viewing experience, it is important to use high-quality files and images that are optimized for Zoom and other video conferencing platforms. High-quality, customizable backgrounds not only enhance professionalism but also improve the overall user experience during remote meetings.
Immersive View is a great way to make virtual meetings more engaging and immersive. It allows you to support immersive views, enhancing the overall experience for participants.
Mobile requirements
For mobile users, the requirements for desktop and mobile apps are as follows:
- Android 8.0 or higher
- An arm64 processor with 8 cores or higher
- 3GB or higher RAM
- A GPU (Qualcomm recommended)
iOS users need to have version 5.6.3 or higher to enjoy the immersive view experience.
With these requirements met, you can manually place participants in the immersive view and create captivating virtual meetings on the go!
Depending on your device, some immersive view backgrounds or features may not be supported.
Activating Zoom immersive view
After understanding the requirements, proceed to activate Zoom Immersive View and upgrade your virtual meetings. To enable an immersive view, follow these steps:
- Sign in to the web portal.
- Navigate to ‘Settings’ in the left-hand menu.
- Click on the ‘Meeting’ tab.
- Under ‘In Meeting (Advanced)’, click on the option for enabling immersive view.
After completing these steps, signing into your Zoom account is required to activate and apply immersive view backgrounds.
Keep in mind, only the meeting’s host can enable Immersive View. Make sure you have the necessary permissions before trying to turn on this feature, so everything runs smoothly. Once activated, get ready to transform your virtual meetings into captivating, immersive experiences!
Personal account activation
To enable Zoom Immersive View for your personal account, follow these steps:
- Sign in to your Zoom dashboard using your username and password.
- Navigate to the ‘Settings' page in the left-hand menu.
- Check if the Immersive View setting is enabled in the ‘In Meeting (Advanced)' section.
The setting is grayed out. Contact your account admin for assistance to access this feature.
Group activation
For group activation, follow these steps:
- Sign in to your Zoom account with your admin credentials.
- Navigate to the ‘Groups' tab in the left-hand menu.
- Click on the ‘Immersive' option in the top-right corner of the meeting window.
This will enable Immersive View for all group members and enhance their virtual meeting experience.
Organization-wide activation
To activate Immersive View organization-wide, sign in as an admin, go to ‘Settings', enable Immersive View, and lock it for all users.
This ensures that everyone in the organization can enjoy the benefits of this innovative feature, creating a more engaging and immersive virtual meeting experience for all.
Mastering Zoom immersive view controls
With Zoom Immersive View enabled, you can:
- Proceed to master the controls and construct memorable virtual meetings. You can also use filters to enhance your immersive view, adding creative or professional effects to your virtual environment.
- Customize scenes, placing participants, and adjusting layouts. Changing backgrounds and layouts is easy, allowing you to quickly adapt your meeting’s appearance for any occasion.
- Design a virtual space that perfectly suits your meeting’s mood and purpose
Zoom offers a variety of preset scenes to choose from, or you can upload your own custom background to create a truly unique environment. With a little practice, you’ll become a master of Zoom Immersive View controls and elevate your virtual meetings to new heights of engagement and creativity! You can also share your custom backgrounds with other meeting participants, making collaboration and personalization even easier.
Customizing scenes
When customizing your custom scene in Zoom Immersive View, select from available stock options or upload your own background while considering meeting resolution and file type requirements.
You can use Zoom background images specifically designed for an immersive view to create a unique and engaging virtual environment. For branding, add your company logo to custom backgrounds so your brand is visible during meetings. Adjust the colors in your backgrounds to match your meeting theme, seasonal events, or company branding for a cohesive look.
You can also explore websites like Unsplash, Canva, Burst, Pexels, and Pixabay for a variety of stunning Immersive View backgrounds to enhance your virtual meetings.
Placing participants
As a host, you can manually place attendees in the virtual scene by clicking and dragging their videos into an empty location or replacing someone already in the scene. Alternatively, you can use the “Auto Layout” feature, which will automatically arrange the participants in the virtual scene according to their position in the meeting.
This gives you complete control over the layout and flow of your immersive virtual meetings.
Adjusting layouts
To adjust layouts in Zoom Immersive View, simply resize and reposition participants by manipulating frames through a click-and-drag method. This allows you to create a dynamic and engaging virtual space that accommodates all attendees and guarantees everyone feels included in the immersive experience.
Overcoming limitations of Zoom immersive view
As with any technology, Zoom Immersive View presents certain limitations. However, with a little creativity and flexibility, you can overcome these challenges and still create engaging and immersive virtual meetings. Some limitations to consider include:
- Immersive View is only available on the Zoom desktop client version 5.6.3 or later.
- Immersive View is limited to 25 participants.
- Immersive View may not be compatible with all devices or operating systems.
Using immersive view backgrounds can help you avoid distractions and maintain privacy during meetings, as they eliminate the need for a tidy background and prevent unwanted interruptions from appearing on screen.
Understanding these limitations and finding ways to work around them will help your virtual meetings be successful.
Some limitations of immersive virtual meetings include:
- Limited device compatibility
- Minimum participant requirement
- System requirements
- Potential distractions
By being aware of these limitations and finding solutions to address them, you can ensure that your immersive virtual meetings run smoothly and effectively, providing a truly captivating experience for all participants.
Participant limits
Zoom’s Immersive View supports up to 25 participants in a shared scene, which works great for most online meetings. If you have more people joining, don’t worry, additional attendees will still appear in a thumbnail strip at the top, so no one misses out. You can also customize the experience by choosing a Zoom background, using preset virtual backgrounds, or even uploading your own to match the vibe of your meeting.
Screen sharing
When the host shares their screen, Immersive View ends and is replaced by the shared screen. But don't worry! Sharing sessions can easily be stopped. When this happens, Immersive View will resume where it left off with all the positions intact.
This guarantees a seamless transition between screen sharing and the immersive meeting experience.
Recording restrictions
Recording of Zoom Immersive View is not yet supported, but local recordings appear as Speaker View, and cloud recordings as Gallery or Speaker View.
Although the immersive experience may not be captured in the recording, the content of the meeting and the insights from meeting participants will still be available for later review and reference.
Enhancing virtual meetings with immersive view backgrounds
Zoom Immersive View is a fun way to bring life to your virtual meetings, especially for remote workers. Instead of the same old grid of faces, you can place meeting attendees into a shared scene, complete with your favorite Zoom background or a fresh new virtual background that fits the vibe. It’s easy to customize layouts, create a sense of connection, and make every call feel a little more engaging.
Whether you’re hosting a team check-in or a client presentation, using a new Zoom background can help keep things fresh and collaborative. With a bit of creativity, your next meeting can actually be something people look forward to.
Enhancing your virtual meetings with immersive backgrounds can instantly transform a standard call into a more engaging experience. Creative backdrops from platforms like Unsplash, Canva, Pexels, and Pixabay help your team avoid using the same old backgrounds while adding personality and privacy to every meeting.
Custom immersive backgrounds let you match the vibe, professional for client calls or fun for team check-ins. Using Zoom-optimized files ensures your meetings look sharp and polished.
Zoom Immersive View takes this even further by placing participants in a shared virtual scene, making calls feel more connected and lively. It’s a simple way to boost collaboration, break up the monotony, and make meetings something people actually look forward to.
If you want an even more interactive experience beyond Zoom, platforms like Kumospace offer fully immersive virtual offices where teams can move around rooms, collaborate naturally, and host events in realistic digital spaces. It’s a great companion or alternative for anyone looking to make remote meetings feel more human and dynamic.
Summary
Zoom Immersive View transforms ordinary video calls into dynamic shared scenes, making meetings feel more connected, polished, and engaging. With customizable layouts, participant placement, and countless virtual background options, including AI-generated designs, you can tailor your meeting environment to any purpose, from client presentations to casual team check-ins.
High-quality Zoom-optimized backgrounds create a clean, professional look, and the simple controls make it easy to switch scenes, adjust layouts, and personalize your space in seconds. If you want an even more interactive experience, platforms like Kumospace offer fully immersive virtual offices that can complement or enhance your Zoom setup.
Although Immersive View has a limit of 25 participants and no recording support, it remains a powerful way to elevate virtual meetings, boost collaboration, and bring creativity to every call.
Frequently Asked Questions
To turn on Immersive View in Zoom, click ‘View’ in the top right corner of your screen, select ‘Immersive’ and choose from one of Zoom’s provided virtual backgrounds.
Then, click ‘Start’ to begin the immersive experience!
It’s possible to have an immersive view experience with Zoom, but this feature is not available for all participants - especially if they are using a mobile app.
If the host of the meeting is on a desktop client that supports immersive view, then everyone can join in and experience it.
Immersive View features are enabled by default for Free and single Pro accounts using Zoom 5.6.3 or higher, but they need to be enabled through the Zoom Admin portal for all other account types.
Immersive View can also be disabled in the Zoom Admin portal at either the Account, Group or User level.
Yes - Zoom Immersive View is available for both free and paid accounts!
It’s a great way to get the most out of your Zoom meetings, no matter what type of account you have.
Yes, you can definitely customize your virtual background in Zoom Immersive View - you can either choose from stock options or upload your own, making sure to meet the resolution and file type requirements.
You can find a wide range of stock options to choose from, and you can also upload your own image to use as a background. Make sure that the image you upload meets the resolution and file type requirements.