Group FaceTime

[batting1000]

Who is the target market for a 32-way FaceTime call again?

A company that's holding a meeting with 32 employees.

Just because it doesn't benefit you doesn't mean it's not useful to someone else.

John Doe who just wants to have a 3-person call with his 2 other friends won't have his experience ruined just because the software supports a 32-person call. Not sure what the big deal is here.

 

[Abazigal]

A company that's holding a meeting with 32 employees.

Just because it doesn't benefit you doesn't mean it's not useful to someone else.

I wasn’t criticising it. I am genuinely curious as to what a real-world use case might be. Apple made such a deal of playing up this feature, so they evidently expect that there is demand for many people being able to FaceTime one another at the same time. And I am drawing a blank, hence my honest question here.

 

[Mischaa]

I have a group chat with 12 friends on iMessage. I can imagine using FaceTime, or just FaceTime audio, a lot. Especially when someone in the chat can just start is and whoever is up for it, enters too.

 

[charlituna]

32 people is a really stupid idea.

Actually it’s a great idea for businesses and classrooms. Although I will admit that I was surprised that they didn’t release a single broadcaster mode with this. Work in concert with Messages and have one ‘outgoing’ video that many folks can watch and reply, if the broadcaster would like, via Messages. Perhaps even allow 1-4 broadcasters and the rest just view. Sort of like Instagram/Facebook Live videos. Perhaps even work in Screen Recording tech to allow saving the video (again if the broadcasters permit) in a Messages thread with the replies or in notes.

I know that Apple loathes focus groups but I really feel like they need to open up a bit to feedback from actual users about what features they might like. They could still parse them out and decide which are going to be supported on what time table but so often it feels like they are clueless (the lack of features in iOS Photos and not combining Notes and Voice Memos would be other examples)

 

[batting1000]

I wasn’t criticising it. I am genuinely curious as to what a real-world use case might be. Apple made such a deal of playing up this feature, so they evidently expect that there is demand for many people being able to FaceTime one another at the same time. And I am drawing a blank, hence my honest question here.

I gave you a real-world use case. A company meeting. Or as someone said above, something classroom-related at a school or university.

Personally, I'm not gonna worry about what the actual use cases are. If I ever need it, the ability will be there. Otherwise I'll let the people who actually need this ability to worry about the use cases.

 

[nexu]

Pity it requires A10

 

[JayJohnPaul]

32 people is a really stupid idea.

I’m excited to use it... but not with up to 32 people... that’s just too much Apple.

It’s not like y’all have that many friends anyway...

 

[TheSkywalker77]

It’s not like y’all have that many friends anyway...

Exactly. I see no use for this as I can't see too many people having 32 friends all with an iPhone all on iOS 12 all wanting to FaceTime at the same time. While it's not hindering the use of FaceTime in any way, I don't see the feature being too practical except for business calls which Skype or Google Hangouts are more used for.

 

[rjp1]

Reading the beta notes, it appears Group FaceTime only works on iPhone 7's and above.

It is always funny when they just make a random decision on what devices a feature can be used on. I laugh when my iPad can't turn on low battery mode.

 

[TypeMRT]

Has anyone tried a group call with a mix of iOS 11 & 12 devices? I know its an iOS 12 feature but I’m curious to know what happens when an iOS 12 device starts a group call but iOS 11 devices are added or try to connect. Do the iOS 11 devices: get to join but only see 1 person, get a busy/unavailable signal, or just see an error?

 

[eoblaed]

Has anyone tried a group call with a mix of iOS 11 & 12 devices? I know its an iOS 12 feature but I’m curious to know what happens when an iOS 12 device starts a group call but iOS 11 devices are added or try to connect. Do the iOS 11 devices: get to join but only see 1 person, get a busy/unavailable signal, or just see an error?

EverythingApplePro mentioned something about this in one of his videos. Unfortunately, I don't recall the experience of the '< iOS 12' user, I just know they couldn't join the call, or he couldn't invite them, or something.

 

[AbSoluTc]

It is always funny when they just make a random decision on what devices a feature can be used on. I laugh when my iPad can't turn on low battery mode.

Yeah, it's pretty random that only the last couple years hardware is the only hardware that can support Group FT. I wonder if it has anything to do with the faster processor/architecture? Probably not. They are just randomly deciding what devices should partake. They pull them out of a hat and there you have it! The random list.

Really dude? Really?

 

[rjp1]

Yeah, it's pretty random that only the last couple years hardware is the only hardware that can support Group FT. I wonder if it has anything to do with the faster processor/architecture? Probably not. They are just randomly deciding what devices should partake. They pull them out of a hat and there you have it! The random list.

Really dude? Really?

Like I pointed out they didn’t allow low power mode on older devices. It has nothing to do with whether a device can actually perform the feature - they just disable access to push more hardware. An example is the original Apple Watch had elevated heart rate at 4.0 release after they said it didn’t support it. They forgot to block it and it worked fine. They removed the feature in an update. A group voice chat wouldn’t be a demanding feature compared to some other apps and games out there. I didn’t know anyone was unaware that they cutoff features not based on whether the devices can run them.

Really dude? Really?

 

[C DM]

Like I pointed out they didn’t allow low power mode on older devices. It has nothing to do with whether a device can actually perform the feature - they just disable access to push more hardware. An example is the original Apple Watch had elevated heart rate at 4.0 release after they said it didn’t support it. They forgot to block it and it worked fine. They removed the feature in an update. A group voice chat wouldn’t be a demanding feature compared to some other apps and games out there. I didn’t know anyone was unaware that they cutoff features not based on whether the devices can run them.

Really dude? Really?

It's not always simply about whether or not something can simply run, other factors can be in play as well.