facetime over airplay
As noted by TiPb, the third beta of iOS 5 released earlier this week has activated new AirPlay streaming support for FaceTime video calling. The feature allows users to display FaceTime video calls directly on a large-screen TV for easy viewing by larger groups of people.

If this makes it into the final release — and not everything does — it’ll be fantastic for families and businesses alike.

The ability to easily start a video call and beam it onto the big screen is compelling. Whether it’s grandpa and grandma, or the team in England, it takes FaceTime from a small, personal experience to a big, group experience at the touch of a button.

With the FaceTime camera of course remaining on the iOS device itself, users taking advantage of the new AirPlay feature while participating in a FaceTime video call will need to ensure that they are looking in the proper direction, but it certainly appears that FaceTime over AirPlay does add some utility for video calling in group settings.

Top Rated Comments

Tom Grant Avatar
182 months ago
Would really like to see AirPlay Mirroring for the Mac as well one day.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
squirrelist Avatar
182 months ago
An AppleTV is easily worth $99 just for AirPlay. But the thing that bugs me about viewing the iPad screen on a TV through AirPlay or Cable is that the resolution remains the same and you get those black pillars.

Yes, I know you can't just stretch out the UI just because it's on a big widescreen tv. But for thing like FaceTime or viewing fullscreen Hulu/Web Video then there should be a way for it to be optimized to wide.

Applications that are "secondary monitor aware" like Netflix will show the video properly. The TV acts as a secondary monitor and will run at full resolution. When mirroring you have to go with the least common denominator, which is going to be the iPad screen itself.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mak47 Avatar
182 months ago
...and we've now reached Back To The Future 2 style video calling. Very nice.

Now just give us some high quality forward facing cameras on our iOS devices to take advantage of this feature and we can all get fired by our bosses in big screen HD!...and then look extra sad when we call Grandma afterward to ask for help paying the bills;)
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
urkel Avatar
182 months ago
An AppleTV is easily worth $99 just for AirPlay. But the thing that bugs me about viewing the iPad screen on a TV through AirPlay or Cable is that the resolution remains the same and you get those black pillars.

Yes, I know you can't just stretch out the UI just because it's on a big widescreen tv. But for thing like FaceTime or viewing fullscreen Hulu/Web Video then there should be a way for it to be optimized to wide.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
virus7 Avatar
182 months ago
Man, Apple is making it hard for me to not want to upgrade my 1st gen ATV.

The main thing holding me back is ATV2 not being able to act as an airplay source.

I typically play music over my ATV and stream it to a connected AP Express.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
litchie Avatar
182 months ago
Time to buy an apple tv for my dad
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
terminal macos tahoe

Apple's Terminal App Gets Colorful Redesign in macOS Tahoe

Monday June 16, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's Terminal app is getting a visual refresh in macOS Tahoe, and it's the first notable design update since the command-line tool debuted. The updated Terminal will support 24-bit color and Powerline fonts, according to Apple's State of the Platforms presentation at WWDC25. The app will also adopt the new Liquid Glass aesthetic with redesigned themes that align with macOS 26's broader...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...