Apple Adding FaceTime Audio To Macs With Next OS X Update

Apple will be distributing FaceTime Audio to the Mac with the next OS X update. The OS X 10.9.2 beta has already been seeded to developers. FaceTime Audio is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) feature that was originally introduced to the iPhone and iOS 7. With FaceTime Audio on both the OS X and iOS software, Apple users can seamlessly call each other from any iOS device. FaceTime Audio is designed to allow users to initiate calls with other FaceTime users without the accompanied video feed, think of it like the Apple wireless network. You will be able to converse with any one of your phones running OS X or iOS.

Currently Macs running Mavericks only have access to the standard FaceTime app, which has both the audio and video features. With iMessages, FaceTime and FaceTime Audio Apple will soon have a complete communication system in place. 9to5Mac reports the FaceTime audio feature is “integrated deeply’ into both the Messages and FaceTime apps, which in turn makes communication between Apple users on any device so much easier. Third party apps such as Skype will have to focus their attention on the android market soon. With telephone calls and chat request from all Apple devices becoming much easier Apple users will have little reason to resort to alternative VoIP apps when communicating with other Apple users.

FaceTime Audio also features full-HD Voice. The application utilizes AAC-ELD which is designed to provide CD-like audio quality for voice calls, delivering high speech and audio quality at a low coding delay. As of now it is unknown when OS X 10.9.2 will be released to the public but OS X 10.9.1 was in development for a little over a month before it was distributed earlier this week. Apple has been known to remove beta features once the official update distributes but it is quite likely FaceTime Audio will make it to the final update, seeing how it is already a usable feature for iOS 7.