Apple Unveils New FaceTime Features Like Spatial Audio, SharePlay, Voice Isolation, and More

[MacRumors]

Apple at WWDC has announced several new upcoming FaceTime features for Apple devices, like spatial audio, voice isolation, wide spectrum, FaceTime Links, SharePlay, and more.

Adding spatial audio will make it feel like you're sitting in the same room as the person you're speaking to, and in group calls, friends will sound spread out in the room.

Voice isolation is a machine learning feature that blocks out ambient noise and prioritizes your voice so that it comes through crystal clear.

FaceTime links allow users to plan ahead and send links to a call via iMessage, email, WhatsApp, Calendar, and more. The links also work with Android right from the browser.

SharePlay is a new set of features designed for shared experiences. For example, it will be possible to listen to music together, watch movies, and share your screen.

Article Link: Apple Unveils New FaceTime Features Like Spatial Audio, SharePlay, Voice Isolation, and More

 

[Serban55]

Beautiful feature

 

[_Spinn_]

Seems like Apple is trying to position FaceTime as a Zoom competitor.

 

[fromsixtozero]

Blured background, face time links = just catching up with other meeting apps..

shareplay seems like a gimmick

voice isolation is also nothing new.

spatial audio looks nice, but not major

 

[itsvdiddy]

Haven't seen the keynote yet - what does this mean: "The links also work with Android right from the browser."

Read it as being able to launch FaceTime calls from Android?

 

[crawfish963]

All would have been great in 2020. Now, not so exciting.

 

[ccsicecoke]

Probably most significant improvement on this year's WWDC.

I'd always wanted to share videos and movies during video call

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

What I wanted:

FaceTime and iMessage on Android. Calculator app and Dictionary app with verbal pronunciations on all Apple operating systems. A translation app as good as Google’s would be nice. Most of the features announced I have no interest in, and frankly I think they’ve added too much complexity to many things rather than providing easy of use and more practical features.

The new Mail and Safari privacy features are welcome though. And the Safari redesigned tabs on Mac and tab syncing look nice, even if I’ll never use many of the other new features or sidebar.

From a practical standpoint I’ll get improved privacy and the ability to copy text from photos. Oh yeah, I’m on SE1 so actually I won’t get any of this stuff. Ah well, shoot me for liking small phones.

 

[kkclstuff]

I commend  for finally updating FaceTime from all but the most basic features, and condemn them for waiting till Zoom's proof of concept once the world shut-down.

 

[Kramerjn]

Blured background, face time links = just catching up with other meeting apps..

shareplay seems like a gimmick

voice isolation is also nothing new.

spatial audio looks nice, but not major

For me, the biggest announcement is being able to share your phone screen in iMessage JUST so I can much more easily help family with issues they have.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

I'm scratching my head, because we were able to do this with iChat, in the early 2000s...

Am I missing something? I'm sure missing iChat; I am still shocked at how big of a step backwards FaceTime was.

 

[hatchettjack]

no one I know ever wants to FaceTime?

 

[JippaLippa]

This was all great news but unfortunately 99% of my friends and family use android, therefore I'd only be able to take advantage of these features with a few people

 

[kkclstuff]

no one I know ever wants to FaceTime?

This was all great news but unfortunately 99% of my friends and family use android, therefore I'd only be able to take advantage of these features with a few people

ditto!

 

[Mr. 123]

While the Facetime features seem cool and I especially like the screen sharing and link sharing, I don’t think I would ever watch a movie or listen to music while on a FaceTime call. Way too distracting and would probably just take away from the experience of watching a movie.

 

[fromsixtozero]

Exactly...why would anyone want to do that...beyond my understanding.

 

[SurferPup]

I love spatial audio. Watching WWDC on my iPad, the audio sounded like it was coming from the device with my AirPods Pro plugged in. As I moved around my workplace lounge, it sounded like Craig knew I left my iPad. Technology is amazing - listening to Radio10 (Brisbane AM radio station), cassette tapes in a car in the eighties. Some digitally recorded music CDs in the nineties with a Alpine 6 CD stacker. ABBA's 'The Visitor' album was one of the pioneer CDs recorded with most tracks recorded digitally in the Swedish recording studio. iPod as a music hard drive in the noughties with an adapter for an Alpine head unt. Previous decade plugging an iPhone into a CarPlay unit and listening to locally stored music or streaming  Music. With eSIMs in an Apple Watch I have been apple to leave home with just my watch and tiny Bluetooth earphones - AirPods. 2019: active noise cancellation is available with AirPods Pro. This year Apple provides spatial sound to AirPods Pro. Imminently spatial support will be expanded and lossless audio. Music has improved from purchasing my favourite records, cassette tapes, CD, digital downloads in iTunes. Some songs I have purchase up to three times on different physical media over the decades. Now for only $18 per month I have access to everything with just a simple command of, "Hey Siri, play ..." to my AirPods Pro, Apple Watch, HomePods, HomePod minis, iPhone, CarPlays, iPad, MacBook Pro, Apple TVs, Nokias (minus Siri support). Home automation results in my favourite artist playing on my arrival home. Wake up music ceases (Supertramp's 'Goodbye Stranger') when I leave home. Musicians benefit from reaching a wider audience. I love music however I have a small amount of physical music media but are expanding and evolving my digital library of playlists.

 

[subjonas]

What I wanted:

FaceTime and iMessage on Android. Calculator app and Dictionary app with verbal pronunciations on all Apple operating systems. A translation app as good as Google’s would be nice. Most of the features announced I have no interest in, and frankly I think they’ve added too much complexity to many things rather than providing easy of use and more practical features.

The new Mail and Safari privacy features are welcome though. And the Safari redesigned tabs on Mac and tab syncing look nice, even if I’ll never use many of the other new features or sidebar.

From a practical standpoint I’ll get improved privacy and the ability to copy text from photos. Oh yeah, I’m on SE1 so actually I won’t get any of this stuff. Ah well, shoot me for liking small phones.

I think all devices on iOS 14 can update to 15, so se1 included. Unless these specific features require newer hardware.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Blured background, face time links = just catching up with other meeting apps..

shareplay seems like a gimmick

voice isolation is also nothing new.

spatial audio looks nice, but not major

it's all in how it's executed. If smooth and appealing to the end user - that's a win.

 

[DeepIn2U]

I commend  for finally updating FaceTime from all but the most basic features, and condemn them for waiting till Zoom's proof of concept once the world shut-down.

Zoom didn't initial encrypt videos which was HUGE issue for consumers and especially to corporate license. Trust me Zoom didn't get their proof of concept right the first few times around until July/August 2020.

Apple is at least encrypting end to end from the start.

Zoom also has the advance of a magnitude of global corporate clients/accounts who's internal Polycom/Tandberg video conference systems were behind firewalls and dis-allowed external connections even by SIP protocol. Moreover Cisco's Jabber is a joke and has YET to be updated ... so Zoom took advantage at a rapid rate.

Apple should've enabled these features mid 2020 to have a wider global impact. This makes me wonder how slow internally ideas and concepts get approved for testing and production announcement/roll-out OR whos determining what's important and far more useful to the end user.

 

[kkclstuff]

been with  since the 80s. they use to LEAD. not anymore

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

While the Facetime features seem cool and I especially like the screen sharing and link sharing, I don’t think I would ever watch a movie or listen to music while on a FaceTime call. Way too distracting and would probably just take away from the experience of watching a movie.

I believe you're able to share that movie with the others on the FaceTime call (which is not to say it couldn't originally be done years earlier, in iChat)

 

[deejerydoo]

Let's face it, FaceTime on iOS is pretty poor, never mind how buggy and badly designed it is in macOS, and iOS is where Apple spend the vast majority of their dev $. There is so much wrong, these days, with substandard software being passed off as viable product, and Apple are no different to any of the other big tech brands in making us pay subscriptions to products that are barely fit for purpose. e.g. FaceTime's biggest bug(bears), for me, are:
1. FaceTime doesn't work correctly if no camera is detected, despite clamshell mode/docked laptops are supposed to be supported and Mac-minis don't even have any as standard. And this is all despite Apple's own documentation on the use of FaceTime stating that a camera is only required for video calling. When pushed on this matter, Apple simply accept it's not right and say this is "by design".
2. When making or receiving FaceTime voice calls, the call status window is an immovable object. This breaks decades of windowed design standards for operating systems. Making a video call in FaceTime and you can move the window to your heart's content but not with a voice call. Again, Apple say this is by design.
So, to conclude, Apple have admitted that they now only designing their software according to entropy and will only fix things they break (by design) if it looks like the failure will result in a class action or ends up costing their support enough.

Apple needs to pay a little more attention to reliability, quality and good basic design, before slapping more features on to it to only make it more of a broken mess.

We are living in a technological dark age where technology is just about a race to the bottom in cost/liability and maximising commoditisation and profit.