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Stay connected with FaceTime, Mail, Messages, and Phone

Your MacStudio offers built-in apps that empower you to stay connected with friends and family, near and far. Click the link in the table to learn more about FaceTime, Mail, Messages, and Phone.

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FaceTime

Make and receive video and audio calls in the FaceTime app on your Mac.

Get started with FaceTime

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Mail

Send and receive email messages and manage your mail accounts.

Get started with Mail

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Messages

Send and receive iMessages and SMS/MMS messages with the Messages app on Mac.

Get started with Messages

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Phone

Make and receive calls in the Phone app on your Mac.

Get started with Phone

FaceTime

With FaceTime, you can make video and audio calls to family and friends, and connect with up to 32 people in a Group FaceTime call. Not available to talk? Send a message or set a reminder to call back, right in the app.

Note: FaceTime requires an external camera and microphone. Accessories are sold separately at apple.com, your local AppleStore, or other resellers.

[A FaceTime window showing a group of people on a call.]

Sign in to FaceTime. Before you can make and receive video and audio calls, you need to sign in to FaceTime. Enter your Apple Account email or phone number and your password in the FaceTime window, then click Sign In. Dont remember if you have an Apple Account? If you have an iPhone, go to Settings, then tap your name. The email you used for your Apple Account appears under your name at the top.

Siri: Ask Siri something like, FaceTime mom.

Make a FaceTime call. Connect a camera and microphone to your MacStudio to make FaceTime video calls. Click [the New FaceTime button], enter a name, phone number, or email address for the person you want to call, then click [the FaceTime button]. If its not convenient to make a video call, you can make an audio-only call: click the down arrow next to [the FaceTime button], then choose FaceTime Audio.

Tip: Add up to 32 people to a group call. To make a unique link to share with a group, click [the New FaceTime button], then click Create Link. Copy the link to your clipboard or share directly with friends in Messages or Mail, or add the link to a Calendar event to schedule a call for later. You can now use a link to join FaceTime calls on non-Apple devices.

Accept or decline calls. When you receive a FaceTime call, click [the Accept button] to join with video. To answer with audio only, click the down arrow next to [the Accept button], then choose Answer as Audio. If you cant take a call, click [the Decline button]or click the down arrow next to [the Decline button] to send a message or get a reminder to call back later.

Choose your background. You can choose a virtual background to express yourself or just hide the laundry behind you. To change your background, go to the FaceTime app, click [the FaceTime button] in the menu bar, then click Background. Click the background to choose one of the beautiful built-in backgrounds, or upload your own background from Photos or the Finder.

Learn more. See the FaceTime User Guide.

Mail

Read, write, and send emails from all your accountsiCloud, Gmail, Exchange, Yahoo, Outlook, and moreall in one place.

[A Mail window showing the list of messages next to the sidebar, and the contents of the selected message on the right. A callout points to the search field.]

Set up your email accounts. Tired of signing in to multiple websites to check your email accounts? Set up Mail with all your accounts so you can see all your emails in one place. Choose Mail > Add Account.

Send or schedule an email. To start a new email, click [the New Message button] in the Mail toolbar. Enter the recipients email address, enter a subject, and enter your message in the space below. When finished with your draft, click [the Send button] to send it or [the Schedule to Send button] to schedule a time to send later.

Send photos or other files. You can include photos, documents, and more when you write email messages. To add files or photos, click [the Attach button], click Attach Files or Photos, then select the file or photo you want to send.

Siri: Ask Siri something like, Send an email to Ashley.

[A Mail window showing a new message being drafted. The pop-up menu shows options to attach photos, or take a photo, scan a document, or add a sketch from a nearby device.]

Find emails fast. You can quickly find emails by searching using your own words. In Mail, click [the Search button] in the top-right corner and enter a word like photo. Mail shows emails where the word appears, and a menu allows you to refine your search by categories like sender or subject.

Tip: You can choose to have your email messages sorted into categories to help you stay organized. To turn on categories, choose View > Show Mail Categories. You can also set up custom rules to filter emailsfor example, you can block email from a specific sender by moving their emails directly to the Trash. To add a rule, choose Mail > Settings > Rules, then click Add Rule.

Learn more. See the Mail User Guide.

Messages

Stay connected by sending and receiving messages and media right from your Mac. Search makes it easy to find messages in a snap, and you can pin your favorite conversations to the top so its quick to get in touch with the people you chat with the most.

[A Messages window showing a conversation. A message is being scheduled to send at a later date.]

Message anyone, on any device, at any time. When you sign in to your Apple Account, you can use iMessage to exchange unlimited messages with anyone with an Apple device. If you have an iPhone, you can also relay SMS/MMS messages from your iPhone to your Mac. Click [the New Message button] to start a conversation.

See the Apple Support article What is the difference between iMessage and SMS/MMS? for more information about different types of messages.

Siri: Ask Siri something like, Message Mom that Ill be late.

Not the right time to send a message? You can schedule a message to send at a specified time. Click [the Apps button], choose Send Later, then choose a date and time to send your message.

Add photos, stickers, and more. In a conversation, click [the Apps button], then choose Photos, Stickers, #images, or Message Effects to add fun media and effects to your message. Or easily share files, photos, and videos by dragging them into Messages.

Tip: With macOS Tahoe, you can quickly create a poll to vote on options directly within a group conversationfor example, if you want to see where your friends want to go for brunch. In a Messages conversation, click [the Apps button], choose Polls, then create your poll.

Find the right message. Find the message youre looking for quickly by typing a persons name or keywords into the search field. Combine search filters to further narrow your search. Your results are organized by category, such as conversations, messages, and photos.

[A Messages window showing search results on the left and a conversation on the right.]

Keep favorite conversations at the top. Pin your favorite conversations to the top of the messages list by dragging them to the top. New messages, Tapbacks, and typing indicators appear above a pinned conversation. When there are unread messages in a group conversation, the most recent participants appear around the pinned conversation.

Learn more. See the Messages User Guide.

Phone

With the Phone app, you can make and receive calls to family and friends, use Hold Assist, or screen calls from unknown callers, all from your Mac.

Note: Before you can make a call, you need to connect a microphone to your MacStudio. Accessories are sold separately at apple.com, your local AppleStore, or other resellers.

[A Phone app window on Mac showing Recent calls on the left and a contact card on the right.]

Make a phone call. Click [the Keypad button], enter the number using the keypad, then click [the Call button]. You can also redial a recent number or paste a number youve copied to your Clipboard.

Accept or decline calls. Answer calls, right from your Mac. Click [the Call button] or [the Decline button].

[A window of the Phone app showing a current call in progress.]

Use Hold Assist. When youre placed on hold during a call, you can use Hold Assist to notify you when a live agent is available so you dont have to stay on the line. During a call, click [the More button], then click [the Hold Assist button]. Youll be notified when an agent is available, and you can see a transcript of the part of the call you missed. Click [the Call button] to rejoin the call.

Screen incoming calls. Call Screening automatically answers calls from unsaved numbers without interrupting you. Once the caller shares their name and reason for their call, your phone rings and you can decide if you want to pick it up. Click Phone in the menu bar, choose Settings, then click Calls. Click the pop-up menu next to Screen Unknown Callers, then choose an option.

Learn more. See the Phone User Guide.

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Stay connected with FaceTime, Mail, Messages, and Phone

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