FaceTime offers support for video calls and audio calls. The latter requires a little more care to create, but you might find it a better voice call alternative with crisper audio and lower bandwidth than controlling your video camera during a FaceTime video call.

If a phone call is limited to three to five participants, depending on your carrier, you can make group FaceTime audio calls with up to 31 people. (The same limitation applies to FaceTime video.) To make a group FaceTime call, you must have an iPhone, iPad, or Mac model that was released within the last few years. Entrants do not necessarily need a newer hardware model, but must have at least iOS 12.1.4, any version of iPadOS, or optional macOS 10.4.3 or later update.

Here’s how to make a FaceTime audio call on iOS or iPadOS:

• From any contact card—in the Phone app, in the Contacts app, or when searching with Siri, among other options—tap the phone icon next to FaceTime.
• In Messages, press and hold the camera icon at the top right of any conversation and a FaceTime Audio option will appear that you can tap.
• Also in the contact card, touch and hold the call icon or phone button, touch the FaceTime link, and then select the phone number or email address for the FaceTime audio call. (If you’re using an iPhone or other device that iPhone sends phone calls through, FaceTime appears as a link after the list of phone numbers you can call directly.)
• In the list of FaceTime calls, which is displayed from newest to oldest, you can tap any entry that says you’ve had a FaceTime audio call to call that person again. You can click the info button next to any entry to access the contact card and FaceTime audio link.

And here’s how to start a FaceTime audio call on macOS:

• In the Contacts app, Control-click the call icon and select any entry using FaceTime. You can also click the phone icon in the FaceTime bar of a contact’s main entry.
• In Messages, click the camera icon in the top right corner of any conversation and select FaceTime Audio.
• In Messages and FaceTime on a contact card, you can click the call icon and then select an entry from the FaceTime menu.
• In FaceTime, you can Control-click any entry in your Recent Calls list and select FaceTime Audio.
• Also in FaceTime, click New FaceTime in the top left corner, select the person or people to call, and then click the down arrow to the right of the FaceTime link in the bottom right corner of the dialog box. Select “FaceTime Audio” from the menu that appears.

On any operating system, including watchOS, you can also tell Siri: “Make a FaceTime audio call person’s name“.

During a FaceTime audio call, anyone can convert it to a FaceTime video call by clicking the video icon in the FaceTime bar on iOS or iPadOS, or the FaceTime audio notification on macOS. Other participants’ cameras will be disabled by default, but they won’t be able to prevent the call from being converted.

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