How to use FaceTime for group calls

If you have an iPhone or MacBook, then you have probably used FaceTime, Apple’s built-in video and voice-calling app. While FaceTime has always been useful for keeping in touch, it’s become even more important for staying connected with friends and family while observing social distancing measures.

You can have up to 32 people on a FaceTime call, so it’s a good video-chatting option if you don’t want to download another app to have a group video call — as long as you and your friends all have Apple devices. You can’t install it on a Windows or Android device, and it’s not available for all countries and carriers. However, you can use it between different devices if one friend is on their MacBook and the rest of your friends are using their iPhones.

Some other notes: to use FaceTime, you need to be running iOS 12.1.4 or later on an iPhone 6S or more recent model or an iPod touch (seventh generation). If you’re using an iPad, it should be an iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, iPad (fifth generation), iPad mini 4. or a more recent model of any of those devices, running iPadOS.

All that being said, if you haven’t tried FaceTime, but want to use it, here are some steps to get started and join group FaceTime calls on your iPhone and Mac.

You can either use the FaceTime app to start a group call or, if you’re already talking to a group using Messages, you can start a group FaceTime session from there.

To add someone to a FaceTime call:

You can also make FaceTime audio and video calls from your Mac, as long as you’re running macOS Mojave 10.14.3 or later. You’ll also need to be logged in using your Apple ID. Here’s how to make a call:

You can also start a group FaceTime call from the Messages app on your Mac:

To add someone to a group FaceTime call on your Mac:

To join a FaceTime call on your Mac, you can either click on the pop-up notification (assuming you got one) or open FaceTime. When you open up FaceTime, you should see a list of recent and active calls. If a call is active, it will have a green video button next to it. To join, click on that icon and then click the video button at the bottom-left of the screen.

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