Many modern Android smartphones, specifically Samsung Galaxy devices, include a system-level feature called “Video Call Effects.” Whenever you open a video conferencing app like Zoom, Google Meet, or WhatsApp, the operating system intercepts your camera feed. A floating bubble appears on your screen, and the phone automatically applies an aggressive background blur, color-corrects your face, or artificially tracks your movement to keep you centered in the frame.
While this sounds great on paper, it often severely degrades the actual video quality. The artificial background blur (bokeh) is notoriously bad at detecting hair, often cutting off chunks of your head or blurring out objects you are trying to hold up to the camera. The auto-framing feature can also be incredibly nauseating for the people watching you, as the camera wildly pans around the room every time you shift in your chair.
To ensure a crisp, natural, and steady video feed, you must disable the operating system’s video call enhancements.
How to Turn Off Video Call Effects
This setting is located deep within the Advanced Features menu.
- Open the Settings app on your Android device (Samsung).
- Scroll down and tap on Advanced features.
- Look down the list for an option labeled Video call effects.
- Turn the master toggle switch to the Off position.
- (Alternative) If you want to keep the effects but disable the auto-framing, tap on the words Video call effects to open the submenu, and manually turn off “Auto framing” while leaving the rest of the feature enabled.
The next time you join a video conference, the floating effects bubble will not appear. Your camera will capture a raw, unaltered feed of your room, allowing you to use the native, often superior blurring tools built directly into apps like Zoom or Teams.