Teams for Mac shows a background even when NONE is selected.

Hey there!

Nice to meet you! I'm Randy, an Independent Advisor.

Hi Timothy, when Teams shows a background even after choosing "None." This usually means the image is stuck in Teams’ cache.

First, fully quit Teams (right-click the icon > Quit) and make sure it’s not running in Activity Monitor.

Then, open Finder and press Cmd + Shift + G, and go to: ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Teams/Backgrounds/Uploads Delete any image you see there—that’s likely the one still showing.

Next, clear leftover data. Check these folders and delete them if they exist:

~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Teams

~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams

~/Library/Group Containers/ (look for Teams-related folders)

Restart your Mac after deleting, and reinstall Teams if needed.

Best regards,

Thanks for the update, Timothy. It’s good to hear the image is gone, but I understand how annoying it is that a solid blue background still shows and the green screen option is greyed out.

This usually means Teams is still stuck in background mode, even though you selected “None.” It can happen if the app didn’t fully reset its video settings.

Start by signing out of Teams completely, then sign back in. Sometimes this refreshes your profile settings. While in a video call, click the three dots (...) and go to Background Effects. Even if “None” looks selected, click it again and hit Apply to force it to reset.

Next, try using the web version of Teams at teams.microsoft.com. Join a test call and see if the blue background appears there. If it doesn’t, that means the desktop app is holding on to some leftover settings.

Also, check your Mac’s camera permissions. Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Camera and make sure Teams has access. If not, some video features may not work properly, including green screen.

Regards,

If Teams for Mac keeps showing a background even when “None” is selected, it’s likely stuck on a cached setting. First, quit Teams completely and go to ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Teams/Backgrounds/Uploads using Finder (press Cmd + Shift + G to get there). Delete any images inside. Then, clear Teams' cache by deleting the folders in ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Teams, ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams, and anything Teams-related in ~/Library/Group Containers/.

After restarting your Mac, sign back into Teams. If the background is gone but replaced by a solid color (like blue), and the green screen option is greyed out, it means Teams didn’t fully reset its video settings. Try clicking “None” again in the background settings and press Apply. Also, check that Teams has camera access in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Camera.

If the issue continues, try Teams in a different Mac user profile.

Regards,

There is never a teams folder in the application support folder. Here is a screen shot, I have teams installed

Hi,

Thanks for confirming, Timothy. Since the usual fixes didn’t work, there are a few more things you can try.

First, try changing how Teams handles video. Open Terminal and paste this command:

defaults write com.microsoft.teams TeamsUseModernRenderer -bool NO

Then restart your Mac and launch Teams. This switches Teams to an older video engine, which can fix background display issues.

Next, you can try using a virtual camera app like OBS or CamTwist. These let you control the video feed and avoid Teams applying its own effects.

Lastly, try enabling Teams Public Preview. Click your profile in Teams, go to About > Public Preview, and turn it on. Then restart Teams. This version sometimes includes fixes not in the regular release.

If the problem still shows up, check if Zoom or FaceTime has similar issues. That can help tell if it’s a Teams problem.

Regards,