It is that time of the year again when big tech company Apple gets to flaunt its wares. As usual, the WWDC event comes with a lot of expectations – software upgrades – and this year is no exception.
Speaking of software upgrade below is some news that ought to take WhatsApp, which is currently arm-twisting users into accepting Facebook intrusive policies, think twice. Apple has announced the release of its next-generation mobile OS, the iOS 15. With it comes new possibilities for Apple’s video calling services FaceTime.
The company has announced that FaceTime will now be available on Android and Windows devices. No doubt, this announcement marks a big policy change by Apple; a company that over the years has been hellbent in locking down its ecosystem.
They want you to buy an iPhone, and the iPhone itself works best with a MacBook or iMac computer. You can also best interact with users on iPhones or using their Apple computers. At least that is what we can say judging by how the company tries to make its platform unsuitable for use from other manufacturer’s devices, but quite impressive while using Apple-made devices.
The Rise of Telecommuting
Telecommuting has proven to be a vital tool in the face of COVID-19 necessitated lockdown, cessation of movements, work from home, and school from home, among other policies. It is against this backdrop that little-known companies like Zoom shot to rockstar status overnight. It simply allowed people to conduct their affairs remotely, but with face-to-face interaction.
It now seems like Apple too, wants a piece of the pie, and has made FaceTime available across all the popular platforms. That is Android and Windows.
The company assures users that FaceTime will be end-to-end encrypted. Thus ensuring the protection of users’ privacy and security while conducting their affairs via video conferencing chat rooms.
New Features on FaceTime
Other than availability across Android and Windows, FaceTime will also be getting a new spatial audio feature. This feature allows you to block background noise while doing video conferencing in a noisy environment.
However, if you would like to share your background sound with people you are video conferencing with, you can switch to Wide Spectrum. This feature does not filter your background noise allowing the people you are video conferencing to listen to your music or sounds playing in the room.
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Another noteworthy feature coming to FaceTime is SharePlay which allows you to share your screen with people in the video call. That means you can also watch a movie together and on that front, Apple has partnered with platforms such as ESPN, HBOMax, Disney+, TikTok, Hulu, MasterClass, and Twitch. Meaning if you are watching a video on any of the mentioned platforms, you can share your screen with someone via FaceTime. Unfortunately, Netflix has not been roped into the program yet.
When’s FaceTime going Live on Android/Windows
Well, Apple announced it will avail FaceTime on Android and Windows at the currently ongoing WWDC 2021 event. However, they failed to mention exactly when, but a good guess will be when iOS 15 goes live. That is sometime later this year.
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