Webex Virtual Background on MacOS Catalina

[plp_pnlr]

Hi! Does the virtual background in webex have support on MACOS Catalina

[Goswin Weemaes]

Yes, you need to have an Intel Core i5 6000 series dual-core processor or higher.
Unfortunately this means your CPU doesn't meet the requirements.

[bmedina23]

Hi Everyone, 

I'm having kind of the same issue, one of my users have a MacBook Air with the following characteristics: 

Model: MacBook Air 13" 2017
OS: macOS Mojave versiob 10.14.6
Processor: 1.8GHz Intel Core i5
Memory: 8GB
Cisco Webex Meetings verision: 40.9.6.11
Cisco Webex Teams verision: 3.0.16651.0

The thing is that when video is enable the change background button doesn't even appear, so the user is not able to change the background neither in meetings nor in teams. 

According to change background requirements the user should be able to use this new feature.

Do you have any thoughts about what could be happening?

[Goswin Weemaes]

@bmedina23 , can you run the following command in a terminal window in order to get the exact make and model of your Mac’s CPU?
$ sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string

[bmedina23]

Hi Goswin

Thanks for your answer, this is what I got

Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-5350U CPU @ 1.80GHz

I check the requirements again, and it says Intel Core i5 6000, my user has Intel Core i5-5350 so this would be the thing right? 

[Avinash Gaur]

I'd suggest opening a TAC case for those who have compatible Hardware and software requirements. 
Please attach the problem report generated through Webex meeting app to your case notes.

Help >> Send problem report.

Thanks,

Avinash

[jamesbre]

To echo the sentiments of other users, virtual background option has been removed on my iMac 27" running macOS Catalina 10.5.6.

This used to work before.  I'm running the latest Cisco Webex Meeting version, 

40.9.6.11.

[Goswin Weemaes]

Hi @jamesbre ,

What type of processor do you have?
Can you run the following command in a terminal window in order to get the exact make and model of your Mac’s CPU?
$ sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string

Thanks,
Goswin

[jamesbre]

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz

Now it suddenly doesn't work with the latest build.  40.9.6.11

[Goswin Weemaes]

Hi @jamesbre ,

Looking at the requirements for virtual background, you need to have an Intel Core i7 4000 quad-core or higher:

https://help.webex.com/en-us/80jduab/Use-a-Virtual-Background-in-the-Cisco-Webex-Meetings-Suite#id_138414

Not sure why it has worked in the past. You could open a TAC case in order to investigate this further.

Thanks,
Goswin

[Gayle]

have tried to remove and reinstall Webex several time s with Clean my Mac and with Cisco uninstaller....still not installing the 40.9.6 

[prof40225]

Virtual desktop option disappeared. It did work well on my MacBook Pro 2020, i7 Catalina, then from one day to the other the button to change the background has disappeared, as well as the entry in "options". Webex 40.9.4.6.

Hardware issues do not make sense!

Modellname: MacBook Pro

  Modell-Identifizierung: MacBookPro16,2

  Prozessortyp: Quad-Core Intel Core i7

  Prozessorgeschwindigkeit: 2,3 GHz

  Anzahl der Prozessoren: 1

  Gesamtanzahl der Kerne: 4

  L2-Cache (pro Kern): 512 KB

  L3-Cache: 8 MB

  Hyper-Threading Technologie: Aktiviert

  Speicher: 32 GB

  Boot-ROM-Version: 1037.147.4.0.0 (iBridge: 17.16.16610.0.0,0)

[DGHK]

Same here. I could use the virtual background before, but I cannot use any more after the Webex update.

[Hauzer]

Don't worry guys, if you have MacBook Pro and the feature is still not working, you can use Microsoft Teams, because it can do easily the virtual background and it's working well. 

[Avinash Gaur]

@ClaudiaCaballero92417 @andretenenbaum @sjyam @adlv @jeanus.ko @tim.ellis @BradleySmoley56766 

From TAC perspective, for the Virtual background feature to work, your MAC has to fulfill the following requirements:

Mac

1. Webex version:

   • WBS40.6.6—Blurred background and background replacement

   • WBS40.8 and later—Blurred background, background replacement, and custom backgrounds

2. Operating system:

   • macOS High Sierra (version 10.13) and later

3. Processor:

   • Intel Core i7 4000 series quad-core or higher processor

   • Intel Core i7 5000 series dual-core processor or higher

   • Intel Core i5 6000 series dual-core processor or higher

4. Memory:

   • 2GB or more of VRAM for dedicated GPUs

From your posts, I do understand that your MAC is good for points 1 and 2, but please do notice the hardware requirements. The virtual background feature is CPU intensive and hence the above requirements.

Will this be available in the future on all the processors on MAC, this can best be answered by BU.

Hope the above answers your questions.

Thanks,

Avinash

[Vishal 0]

Virtual Backgrounds no longer work for me. They used to work fine. The CPU is more powerful than some of the CPU's you have listed.

I have a late a Mac Pro (not a laptop, the desktop machine)

$ sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-1650 v2 @ 3.50GHz

This is the system info:

  Model Name: Mac Pro

  Model Identifier: MacPro6,1

  Processor Name: 6-Core Intel Xeon E5

  Processor Speed: 3.5 GHz

  Number of Processors: 1

  Total Number of Cores: 6

  L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

  L3 Cache: 12 MB

  Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled

  Memory: 32 GB

This is the GPU:

2 x AMD FirePro D500: 

  Chipset Model: AMD FirePro D500

  Type: GPU

  Bus: PCIe

  Slot: Slot-2

  PCIe Lane Width: x16

  VRAM (Total): 3 GB

  Vendor: AMD (0x1002)

  Device ID: 0x679e

  Revision ID: 0x0000

  ROM Revision: 113-C3861J-687

  VBIOS Version: 113-C3861LB-029

  EFI Driver Version: 01.0D.687

  Automatic Graphics Switching: Supported

  gMux Version: 4.0.11 [3.2.8]

  Metal: Supported, feature set macOS GPUFamily2 v1

[jamesbre]

Avinash,

Did you recently change your requirements?  I've been running virtual background for the last 6 months on:

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz

Now it suddenly doesn't work with the latest build.

[andretenenbaum]

Hi @Avinash S @Avinash did you had the time to look further into this, as my iMac were able to use virtual backgroud before an upadte a couple of weeks ago and now its missing this feature as I showed on the message bellow?

Best

[andretenenbaum]

@Avinash this is the problem my iMac have all the requirements as you can see on the picture. And before this updade I could change my Backgroud and now I cant.

[prof40225]

same here, see below.

[andretenenbaum]

I am facing this problem, and the strange thing is that on the last version prior to 40.9.4.6 the virtual Background on my iMac 21.5 Late 2015, 2,8 Ghz i5 Quad Core with 16GB Ram running Mac OS Catalina 10.15.6 (19G2021) worked. Now that I upade to Cisco Webex Meeting 40.9.4.6 the option has disappear.