Camera Filters, Background Blur and AR Lenses

Camera effects change your picture before it reaches your opponent. You can blur the background, apply a colour filter or wear an AR lens.

These aren't decorations that stay on your own screen: the processed image is exactly what the other side receives.

Blurring the background

For most people who hesitate to turn the camera on, the reason isn't chess — it's the room behind them. Background blur reduces that to one button: you stay sharp, everything behind you softens.

Checking your surroundings before going live is still a good habit — we covered it in our safety guide.

Colour filters and image adjustment

There are ready-made filters: grayscale, sepia, vivid, warm, cool, noir and a few more. In poor light they visibly clean the picture up.

For finer control there are brightness, contrast and saturation sliders. If a yellow lamp is turning you orange, dialling saturation down usually does it.

AR lenses

Real AR lenses are supported too — the kind that track your face as you move. Pick a lens and the engine loads, then your feed goes out to your opponent with the lens applied.

It's strictly opt-in: nothing is downloaded until you choose a lens, and the camera pipeline isn't touched. If your device or browser can't run them, lenses quietly switch off and the video keeps flowing unfiltered — the game is never interrupted.

Quality, device choice and the camera test

You can leave quality on automatic or set it by hand: 480p, 720p, 1080p and 4K. Higher quality uses more bandwidth, and if your device can't manage it, the nearest supported quality is used.

With more than one camera or microphone, you choose which one is used.

The camera test in Settings shows you exactly what the other side sees: a live preview, the resolution your camera is actually capturing, and your mic level. The green-room screen just before matchmaking does the same job — a moment to tidy yourself up before an opponent is found.