If you’re running a Samsung phone – any Samsung phone, for that matter – you can now FaceTime on it. But there is a catch…
Inside the Android market, you have plenty of FaceTime alternatives. Samsung has its own. Google has its own. And you have myriad apps inside the Play Store that mimic FaceTime.
But the idea of actually running FaceTime on your Samsung phone? Until very recently, this was just a pipe dream.
But Apple has now made some changes to how FaceTime works, and it is good news for Samsung, Android, and Windows users.
And they’re coming inside iOS 15 which launches later this year.
Up until the launch of iOS 15, Apple’s FaceTime was designed exclusively for use on Apple products – its phones, tablets, and computers.
FaceTime alongside a slew of other features is one of the biggest draws of using iPhones instead of Android phones. But later on this year, Android users will be able to join FaceTime calls.
COVID Made Apple Open Up FaceTime To Android
After the world got shut down by COVID, tech companies scrambled to make their software better suited to our new work-at-home environments.
Google completely overhauled its G-Suite, turning it into Workspace. Its sole aim? To make working remotely more collaborative. And it worked too, Workspace is excellent.
Apple doesn’t usually do anything it doesn’t want to. It doesn’t do Black Friday, for instance, and it usually keeps its core software completely locked down.
But thanks to the rise of Zoom and other video-calling applications, Apple’s hand was forced. It had to open up FaceTime to people outside the Apple ecosystem, so that’s what it did.
You Gotta Be Invited Though…
In true Apple style, however, the company didn’t exactly open up FaceTime. Instead, it will now allow Android and Windows users to join FaceTime calls.
But there is a catch, and that catch is that you HAVE to be invited.
You cannot download a FaceTime app for Android nor will you ever be able to do this.
Instead, you have to get a link from an iPhone user, click on it, and then join the conversion via you Samsung phone’s web browser.
Apple clearly liaised with its accountants here to found out what the absolute least it could do was, and then proceeded to do just that.
You Can FaceTime on Samsung From The Fall…
But at least you can join FaceTime calls from your Samsung phone, right? If you want to do more than that, well, you’ll have to get an iPhone.
Or, persuade your friends to start using something cross-platform like Zoom.
On the subject of Zoom, it is literally the ONLY reason this has happened. Apple was clearly feeling threatened by the cross-platform, available to everyone video-calling service.
If Zoom hadn’t have happened, FaceTime would be as locked down as ever. That much I can guarantee.
And don’t forget to check out what’s new in macOS Monterey here! Also, be sure to check out how to blur the background on a FaceTime video call! And check out how to FaceTime on Android!
Richard Goodwin
Richard Goodwin has been working as a tech journalist for over 10 years. He is the editor and owner of KnowYourMobile.