Facetime is one of the best innovative ideas that came with the iPhone. It is an app that serves as a medium through which iPhone users can gab and see one another through video calls. FaceTime only works from one Mac to another Mac, and for it to work, the user must have an OS X version of at least 10.6.6 and an internet connection.
There’s a number of things that can be done on Facetime outside of the norm and regular video calls. As an essential iPhone, iPad, and Mac feature, FaceTime is widely known, but if you’re new to FaceTime, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know. Even established FaceTime users may learn a trick or two. This is going to be a smooth ride, ride with us!
Setting Up FaceTime
If you have an iPhone, FaceTime, much like iMessage, is activated automatically using your phone number, but you can also choose to use it with an email address instead. Getting FaceTime up and running happens automatically after your iPhone is activated with a SIM card.
There are two ways to use FaceTime. You can use FaceTime video, which is the standard way to use FaceTime with a two-way video connection (or more, with Group FaceTime), or you can use FaceTime Audio, which, as the name suggests, is an audio-only option.
FaceTime on Mac can also be initiated through the Contacts app by selecting a contact and choosing the FaceTime option, or through the Messages app by tapping on a person’s name in an iMessage thread and then selecting the FaceTime option.
You can also set up Favorites through the Contacts app and make a FaceTime call through the Phone app (iPhone) or the Favorites widget in the Today section of the Notification Center (iPhone and iPad).
- Resizing of call Window: with Facetime, it is possible to make the video call window larger by selecting Window; Zoom. You can also click on the command again to return it to its normal size. The Fact-time Window, like any other Window, can be expanded using the right technique. This technique involves dragging a window edge and taking it to full screen as you are on a call.
- Call Pausing: during a call session, peradventure you need to do something or sort something out, you can decide to pause the call and continue it when you are through. This can be done by selecting Facetime, then choose Hide Facetime or preferably, go to Window, click minimize.
- Change Orientation: as soon as a call comes in from an iPod or iPhone, the call window on your Mac instantly rotates if the caller changes the Orientation of his device. It is not that you are about to rotate the Mac itself like some other devices would let you, but you would still be able to change the Orientation that the caller sees. You can select FaceTime and click Video, then choose to use Landscape or use Portrait.
- Change Caller ID: when using Facetime, you can list any of the email accounts that you are using for FaceTime as the Caller ID account that the people calling will see. If you decide to change to another email account, first of all, open the FaceTime preferences and then click any of the other accounts you have associated with FaceTime to pick one of them.
- Adding a caller to favorites or contacts: this is another feature that one can conveniently change, and it is very easy to do. To change it, go to the Recents list, choose the right arrow that’s next to the caller’s number or name. Then in the next screen, click Create New Contact or Add to Existing Contact. After that, you can click.
- Add to Favorites: to make the caller a favorite, and then choose the right phone number to use. But that’s if the numbers are more than one.
Photo by Ben Collins on Unsplash
Asides from the above tips, there are certain things about FaceTime that you should take note of.
If it is the case that you are traveling in another country, you arrange it so that any local calls made to iPhone users through Facetime makes use of the proper original format for making that call. You do this by selecting Apple ID under Facetime Preferences, click Change Location, and then pick the appropriate region or country.
You can open the Notifications settings in the System Preferences, so you can arrange alerts for Facetime calls. You can also determine whether and how to choose to see FaceTime notifications in the Notification Center.