Video conferencing apps like Zoom have become an important part of our personal and work lives over the years, especially since the pandemic began. Every day, millions of friends, family, and colleagues connect via Zoom. That's why the app has features that make those interactions more interesting.

Take emoji reactions, for example. They help keep order in Zoom meetings so that only authorized speakers can use the mic, and everyone else can simply click on an emoji if they wish to engage. But did you know you can change the skin tone of the emoji reaction? Continue reading to learn how.

Zoom Allows You to Change Your Reaction's Skin Tone

Zoom launched meeting reactions in 2020 as a way for participants to engage without disrupting the flow of a meeting. They also come in handy when you don't know what to say but want to let everyone know that you're still listening.

But you can also change the skin tone of your reaction to better reflect your own, similar to how you would on platforms like WhatsApp and Asana. Not sure how they work? Read our guide to learn how to use Zoom's in-meeting reactions for feedback.

Changing your reaction's skin tone is one way you can personalize your experience on Zoom. Another way is to use avatars to make Zoom fun. These features are helpful when you attend a lot of meetings or meetings that drag.

How to Change Your Reaction's Skin Tone on Zoom

Open the Zoom app and click on your Profile icon in the top-right corner, followed by Settings > General. Scroll down to Skin tone under Reactions, then click on the Thumb emoji with the skin tone that best represents you. That's it. Your reaction will appear in the skin tone you've selected every time you use it in a Zoom meeting.

You can choose to have your emoji reactions appear directly above the toolbar during a meeting by checking the Display your reactions above toolbar box. If you want Zoom to show the thumbs up and hand up emoji based on your hand gestures, check the box next to Activate the following emoji based on hand gesture recognition.

New to Zoom's hand gesture recognition feature? Find out how to start using it here.

Why Change Your Reaction's Skin Tone on Zoom?

Zoom's skin tone reactions help to bring order to meetings, but they serve another significant purpose—they show the diversity of meeting participants. When emojis were first launched online, they were one-dimensional as far as diversity goes, so they weren't the best representation of the world we live in.

But over the years, developers have done their best to represent as much of the world as we know it, so that no one feels excluded. When you use a meeting reaction with a customized skin tone, it personalizes the Zoom experience and makes it feel more like the real world.

Enhance Your Zoom Experience With a Personalized Skin Tone Reaction

Let's face it—Zoom meetings can be long and boring. But you can make your time on the app a little more interesting by using its features and personalizing your experience as good as you can.

Changing skin tone reaction is one of the ways to do that. The feature celebrates diversity and helps everyone appreciate just how different they are.