Starting in iOS 7 you could already make audio-only Facetime calls person-to-person. But with the upcoming point release of Max OS X Mavericks, you’ll be able to place audio calls from your Mac as well.
Check out 9 to 5 Mac for the details.
You may recall that Facetime uses extremely high-quality audio for voice calls–much better than you can get over traditional phone lines. This will be big.
The video says it all.
From a press statement Apple released regarding US government requests for personal information:
conversations which take place over iMessage and FaceTime are protected by end-to-end encryption so no one but the sender and receiver can see or read them. Apple cannot decrypt that data.
So in short, Apple has reiterated (as of June 2013) that FaceTime calls and iMessages are secure and private, even from Apple. Even they cannot decrypt these communications.
In a follow up to the last post, Facebook has added free audio calling (in the US & Canada) to it’s primary Facebook iOS app . Download it or update from the App Store to see the new feature.
The Verge and several other sources are reporting that you can now make free audio phone calls to your Facebook friends if you live in the US or Canada. You and the person you are calling will need to download Facebook Messenger for the iPhone. After that, it’s free audio calling. Plus free texting from app to app. You can’t beat free.
With all the people who are constantly picking up new iPads, iPhones & Macs, I thought it might be helpful to post a visual guide for how to make a Facetime video call from one Apple device to another. I’ve tried to make this guide both simple but just thorough enough. Hit the jump to read the text version.
Apple released a commercial to highlight Facetime on the iPad and iPad Mini. Note the emphasis isn’t on the technology or megapixels or anything technical. Facetime is only good as a technology because of how it connects people, and this is a perfect example of how Apple gets it.
It’s a big week for Facetime with the announcement that in iOS 6 (coming Fall of 2012) Apple will allow Facetime calls to be placed not just over wi-fi, but also over cell phone calls. From Apple:
FaceTime now works over cellular networks as well as Wi-Fi, so you can make and receive FaceTime calls wherever you happen to be.4 You can even make and receive FaceTime calls on your iPad using your phone number. That means you can use FaceTime wherever you are, on any device. And never miss another wink, smile, air kiss, or eye roll.
Apple has announced that they will begin including Facetime HD cameras with 3X more resolution than previous Facetime Cameras, starting today.
New on the scene today: Sidecar App to place VOIP (Voice over Internet) calls with a bunch of nifty features. Here’s the rundown:
Available for free for iPhone and Android. US and Canada only for right now.
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More PR after the jump…
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