iPhone users can invite their friends and family who own Android phones to join a Facetime call, thanks to the iOS 15 update.
The option to tap a person's name to join a video call is still not available, but right after you open the Facetime app, there are two options at the top of the screen: “Create Link” and “New Facetime.”
The notification below “Create Link” indicates that iPhone users can invite anyone to the call, even Android and Windows users.
The feature works similarly to a Zoom call - once you select the link, an option to add names will appear, and after selecting the person's name, a transcript will be automatically generated for them with the attached link.
When an Android user clicks on the link, the FaceTime call will launch in either the Chrome or Edge website browser.
Other browsers such as Firefox may not recognize the link, and instead display an error message.
As with iPhone-to-iPhone texting groups, users can name the FaceTime group before sending the link by selecting the “Add Name” option.
The feature also tries to compete with other video calling options like Google Meets or Zoom by including a calendar option to schedule FaceTime calls in advance.
By selecting the “Add” or “+” icon at the top of Apple’s Calendar app, iPhone users can type “video call” in the location bar and select FaceTime or paste the generated link for non-iPhone users directly into the app.
You can share the link with others by opening the FaceTime app, where the next scheduled call will be synced from your calendar and can be shared directly.
Unlike other video calls, links don't automatically expire, so you can keep using the same link for all future calls with the same people.
Once you have the FaceTime link, Android users can bookmark it in their browser and click the "Join" button, which will send a notification to the iPhone user who created the link, stating that "someone asked to join."
Awesome!
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