How to Finally FaceTime With Your Non-Apple Friends
If you’re an Apple loyalist, there’s a good chance that Messaging and FaceTime are two key features that keep you in the Cupertino ecosystem. But now Apple has opened the gateways, allowing us to invite anyone to a FaceTime call – even those on Android and Windows.
Sadly, Apple hasn’t made a FaceTime app for Android or Windows. That would be too cool. Instead, Apple offers us a small compromise: we can share FaceTime links with friends, which they can open in a web browser. If you have this link, you can join a FaceTime call on any platform – Android, Windows, or Apple.
There is a snag (but not a big one)
Keep in mind that the new feature is not available to everyone: Apple will include it in its big iOS 15 update later this year. As of this writing, the software does not have an official release date, but it is currently in beta testing. If you would like to install unfinished software on your iPhone, you can try FaceTime calling on Android and Windows devices today. If you need help installing the iOS 15 beta on your iPhone, follow our instructions here .
How to share FaceTime links with anyone
With iOS 15 running on your iPhone, open the FaceTime app. Here you will see a slightly redesigned interface compared to iOS 14, but an important piece for our purposes is at the top of the window: the new ” Create Link” option. Click to continue.
Once you do that, iOS will open up a shared sheet. Here you can share the FaceTime link however you want. Send a text message, send an email, relax, tweet (not recommended) – whichever way you would like to get a link for whoever you want to chat with. You can even give the link a unique name by clicking Add Name in the FaceTime Link section.
Once your friend receives the link, all they have to do is open it in the web browser of their choice. This goes for Android, Windows, or any other conceivable OS that supports both the latest version of Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge and H.264 video encoding.
When they join the conversation, they will have full FaceTime experience only in their browser, not in the FaceTime app. Will Apple ever build a FaceTime app for Android or Windows? Time will tell. In the meantime, this is the best option and an important step towards bridging the platform gap.