Apple video feature is disrupting meetings with confetti, balloons; sometimes to hilarious effect

During video calls, people on newer Macs running macOS Sonoma (and other recently updated Apple devices) can use hand gestures to set off the eight effects, called “reactions,” sometimes to hilarious effect.

Fetterman released the confetti on Zoom on MSNBC pic.twitter.com/fpylDiU1uc

— Andy Kaczynski (@KFILE) February 23, 2024

Ann-Marie Alcántara for The Wall Street Journal:
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Alyssa Nolte, a 33-year-old consultant, was on a somber business call a couple months ago. A client was sharing news about coming layoffs. The client raised her hands and suddenly her screen was filled with balloons.

“We’re all like, ‘What just happened? Oh my gosh,’” says Nolte, who lives in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

The meeting had just been hijacked by the latest tech that has us cringing at work: the new Apple camera effect that made its debut in a September software update for Macs and other devices.

Users are inadvertently triggering deluges of fireworks, rain, thumbs-down signs and even on-screen laser shows at all the wrong times: board meetings, therapy sessions, during a pitch to potential investors.

The new Apple feature is part of a long line of fun, cheeky extras intended to humanize the technology in our lives. But sometimes they cause awkward silence instead. Remember the Texas lawyer who turned himself into a cat during a court appearance?

Reminds me of the lawyer on the zoom call with a judge who had the cat filter onpic.twitter.com/hmI1vm55Q8

— Appreciating Culture (@ApprCulture) March 9, 2024

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