How to Start a Group FaceTime Call
FaceTime is one of several stock iOS apps that comes installed on your device by default. Its icon looks like a green video camera. If you deleted FaceTime from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you can download it again for free from the App Store.
To start a new call with FaceTime, open the app, tap the Add (+) button, and type the contact you want to call. On a Mac, use the search bar that appears to find your contacts. Add as many contacts to the call as you want; FaceTime supports up to a maximum of 32 people, including yourself.
Then tap or click the Audio or Video buttons to start the group FaceTime call. The Audio button starts a call without turning your camera on, but you can turn it on at a later time if you want to.
When adding people in the FaceTime app, you can search for their name, phone number, or email address. If someone isn’t saved to your contacts, type out their full phone number or email address instead.
Start a Group FaceTime Call From Messages
You can also start a Group FaceTime call from the Messages app. This is a much more convenient method if you already have a group chat with everyone you want to call. That’s because it’s quicker to get started and lets people join at a later stage without you need to add them.
To do so, open the group chat in Messages, then reveal the Details for that chat by tapping the profile pictures at the top of the screen. Tap or click the FaceTime icon to call everyone in the group chat over FaceTime.
How to Use Group FaceTime on iPhone, iPad, or Mac
After starting a group FaceTime call, you’ll find yourself greeted with a selection of square video feeds from each of your contacts. If someone turns their camera off, their initials appear in a box instead of their video feed.
FaceTime automatically arranges the video feeds on your screen to let you see everyone at once. When that isn’t possible without making each feed too small, FaceTime dynamically changes the size of each feed depending on who’s talking. The aim is to enlarge the feed when people start talking so you can see them better, but it doesn’t work perfectly.
Control the Camera, Microphone, and Speaker in FaceTime
On a Mac, hover your mouse over the FaceTime window to show basic FaceTime controls, then click the Sidebar icon to reveal more controls. On an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, tapping in a blank space reveals controls at the bottom of your screen; swipe up to expand these controls for more options.
Tap the Mute button (shown by a microphone with a line through it) to mute yourself. This turns off your microphone so other people can’t hear what you’re saying.
Similarly, tap the Camera Off button (shown by a camera with a line through it) to turn off your camera. Unless you also muted yourself, people should still be able to hear from you.
On an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch you also get a Flip and a Speaker option. The Flip button switches from the front-facing to the rear-facing camera on your device. And the Speaker button lets you send the audio to other speakers on your network, like Apple’s HomePod.
Add More People to Your Group FaceTime Call
You can keep adding new people to an existing FaceTime call until you reach 32 participants. To do so on an iOS device, tap in a blank space and swipe up on the control panel that appears. On a Mac, open the sidebar in the FaceTime app.
This panel shows everyone in the call, including people you called who didn’t pick up. Use the Ring button next to these contacts to try calling them again.
Alternatively, use the Add Person option to search for new contacts to add to the call. Search for their name, phone number, or email address, just like when you started the FaceTime call. Then tap the Add Person to FaceTime button to bring them in.
Add Effects to Your FaceTime Call
If you’re using an iPhone 7 or later, you can add camera effects to your FaceTime calls. These include Animoji, filters, text, shapes, and various stickers. All you need to do is tap in a blank space, then hit the Effects button.
Select the type of effect you want to add from the toolbar at the bottom of the screen. Certain effects, like text or stickers, let you choose where to place them on your video feed using drag-and-drop.
You can add as many effects as you want, even combining your Animoji with a filter and some stickers if you wish. To go back to normal, tap the Effects button again to remove all the effects at once.
