Youll see different options in terms of effects, features and stickers you can use during your call -- which will stay in effect throughout the call, or until you decide to remove them. 3. Take a live photo during your FaceTime video call Keep a moving snapshot of your time with your friend by taking a live photo during your FaceTime call.

But staring at your own face framed by your messy living room or plain home office on the screen can get dull -- for you and for them.

Luckily, popular video chatting and conferencing platforms like Zoom, Skype and FaceTime offer some ways to spice up your chats with fun features and settings (just watch out for potential Zoom security issues, and take steps to protect yourself as necessary).

Read more: How to stay healthy and entertained at home during the COVID-19 pandemic Whats more fun than beaming into conference calls from outer space.

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You can read our step-by-step guide on how to change your Zoom background on the desktop and mobile app, but basically, you go to Settings Virtual Background, and select or upload the one you want from there.

Loop yourself paying attention during a meeting Not that wed ever recommend doing this, but if you wanted to create a customized background that is just a loop of yourself nodding along to a meeting, you technically could do that, as David Zhou of Mailchimp tweeted.

To get the video background option, follow the instructions for customizing your background above and just add in a video file instead of a photo.

You might need to make sure your Zoom is updated and that you meet minimum system requirements.

Read more: 13 Zoom video chat tips, tricks and hidden features 3.

Turn your Zoom mic on and off with the space bar Want to feel like a DJ who happens to work in their PJs from their kitchen table Mute your microphone, then press and hold the space bar whenever you need to talk.

Look your best with a Zoom beauty filter Youve probably heard all of the work from home advice by now -- wake up on time, shower, get dressed like its a day at the office.

But if its one of those days where you dont think youre looking your best, Zoom has an answer: a feature called Touch Up My Appearance.

Basically, its a softening filter, like youd find on Instagram, FaceTune or your phones selfie camera.

Click Video Settings, and under My Video, check the box for Touch Up My Appearance.

The background blurring option can be activated during a Skype call.

The background blur feature (which is the same on Microsoft Teams, as Microsoft owns both platforms) uses AI to keep the focus on you.

Send a video message on Skype instead of live chatting If you want to video chat with another Skype user but cant get your times to match up, you can send a video message for them to watch when they can.

To do this on the desktop version, click on the contact you want to message, click the three dots on the bottom right corner of your messaging history and select Send Video Message to record a clip of up to three minutes for them to watch.

The text translator is available in more than 60 languages, while the voice translator is available for 10 languages (including English, Spanish, French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, and Russian).

You can enable it by going to Tools Options General Skype Translator.

Uncover Skypes hidden emoticons In its messaging feature, Skype offers a number of animated emoticons that help you liven up your conversation or better express your mood.

While most of these are visible when you click the smiley face at the bottom left corner of a chat window, some are only accessible when you type a certain shortcut in -- including ones that are a bit more PG-13, like a middle finger, a smoker and Santa giving you his full moon.

You can find all of the hidden emoticons on Skypes support page.

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Apple FaceTime for iPhone and Mac FaceTime as your Memoji or an Animoji.

To do that, start a FaceTime call, tap your phones display and tap the Effects button (it looks like a star, and is at the bottom left of the screen).

Tap the monkey icon above that to choose the Memoji or Animoji you want to use and youll see your face get replaced by that choice.

Tap the Effects button again to stop using the character, or to switch to another one.

Add filters and effects to your FaceTime chats Make your FaceTime video call look a bit more interesting by adding filters and effects -- similar to how you would on Snapchat or Instagram.

To do this, start a FaceTime call, tap the display and again tap the Effects button.

Youll see different options in terms of effects, features and stickers you can use during your call -- which will stay in effect throughout the call, or until you decide to remove them.

Take a live photo during your FaceTime video call Keep a moving snapshot of your time with your friend by taking a live photo during your FaceTime call.

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