“After seven years of being a purely one-to-one video connection, FaceTime has been redesigned to support calls with up to 32 participants, which can include clients using macOS Mojave, iOS 12 or even watchOS 5 Apple Watch users via FaceTime audio.,” Daniel Eran Dilger writes for AppleInsider.
“In the new Mojave Public Beta, FaceTime is still very much a work in progress,” Dilger writes. “It’s possible to successfully connect with an iOS 12 FaceTime user (and also a Mac user running on High Sierra), but while you can see the new multiuser interface, connecting with groups of users still appears to not yet be functional… You can expect that calls with multiple FaceTime participants will require a Mojave upgrade (and that older Macs won’t be able to join), but it appears that existing Macs will still be able to FaceTime one-on-one with both new iOS 12 and Mojave users.”
“With only one other participant on the call, the new FaceTime retains a familiar view where you can see yourself in a small preview that floats over a window of the person you’re speaking with,” Dilger writes. “The primary difference in the new FaceTime 5.0 on Mojave is that the camera button used to capture a Live Photo is replaced with a button that presents your contacts, used to add additional users to the call…”
Much more, including screenshots and Memoji, in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It was a looong time coming, but we’re glad multiuser FaceTime is nearly here!
Now we can party like 2009…again!
More like June 2004, when iChat AV 3 was released and allowed 4 people in a single video conference call (or 10 people, if call is audio-only).
The last 5+ years we’ve had to resort to Skype for group video calls at Christmas and other family events. Hated giving Microsoft that nod, but when Apple doesn’t provide what you need, what choice do you have?
Yes, I used it extensively after 2005 but finally gave up on it in 2010.
Good times….