You probably already know that Apple released an update for the OS X Mavericks operating system this week. 10.9.2 gained a lot of notoriety for plugging a serious vulnerability known as GoToFail. However, with this fix, 10.9.2 also brought a number of improvements and a few new features. One of these new features is the ability to make FaceTime Audio calls on your Mac.
Apple’s video and audio communication service FaceTime has been available on iOS for a while. FaceTime video calling feature was also available on Mac. FaceTime Audio made its debut on Apple mobile devices with iOS 7 and is now available for Mac as well.
FaceTime allows users to connect and communicate without using cellular audio minutes. It is proprietary technology from Apple, which has competitors like Skype, WhatsApp and Google Hangouts.
Here’s how to use FaceTime Audio on your Mac.
First make sure you update to OS X 10.9.2. Go to the Mac App Store and check for updates if you haven’t already. (Note whether you want to use FaceTime Audio or not, you need to do this update to fix the GoToFail vulnerability.)
Next, open FaceTime. You will see your iSight camera activated and you will see your face facing you in the left pane and a list of your contacts in the right pane.
You’ll see two icons next to your contacts for people you can connect with via FaceTime. One is the phone and the other is the camera. To connect via FaceTime audio, select the phone icon and you’re on your way.
You use FaceTime audio to talk through your Mac. Of course, the person you’re communicating with must have FaceTime turned on and running for you to be able to connect in this way.
Of course, you can choose the camera if you want to use FaceTime video as well. FaceTime includes caller Blocking and also call waiting if you wish. If you do not want to receive calls, you can close the application or use the item in the FaceTime menu.
