How to facetime on your apple tv
Ava Arnold
Updated on March 29, 2026
FaceTime is a great way to chat on video with friends and family, but if you prefer to keep your hands free while you relax on the couch, you can use FaceTime on your Apple TV instead of your iPhone or iPad.
You might think, “But a FaceTime app does not exist on the Apple TV!” And you’re right, but there is a workaround that you can use with AirPlay. You still need your iPhone or iPad to make it work, but once you have it installed, you can sit back and relax without clumsily holding your mobile device.
Prepare your devices
Before making or receiving a FaceTime call, it is recommended that you start AirPlay on your TV with your Apple TV. You can do it once you are in a FaceTime call, but it’s a little easier if you do it beforehand.
To do this, make sure your mobile device and Apple TV are on the same network at home, and that Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are enabled on your iPhone or iPad. From there, swipe the screen up to show Control Center, then press the “Screen Mirroring” button.
Then, tap the Apple TV on which you want to view the display of your mobile device.
You should now see the screen of your iPhone or iPad on your TV. You are ready to go!
Making or Receiving Your FaceTime Call
Now you simply need to place or receive a FaceTime call to or from a friend or family member. Wait for someone to call you or make the call yourself by opening the FaceTime application and selecting a contact to call. Once you are connected with someone, you will see his face not only on the screen of your mobile device, but also on your TV.
Now, you’ve probably noticed that your iPhone or iPad is still using the front camera on your side, so it looks probably a bit weird for the other person when you watch your TV. rather than watching them. To solve this problem, you can simply support your iPhone or iPad against your TV as shown above.
This gives the person at the other end an idea of what your TV is seeing, but the important thing is that the front camera of your device is pointed at you.
If you are afraid that your device will fall out of the air, you can use a stronger solution by getting a mounting bracket for your iPhone or iPad. This model gooseneck for an iPhone (and one for an iPad ) can be attached to the telescope of your TV or on the TV stand. Then you can simply place your device in the mount and face it in the same way that your TV is oriented.
I know this is not the most ideal solution, and I would have liked it to be a little easier for people to use their televisions for FaceTiming. However, it is currently the best solution.
We have not gone mad. It is possible to make a video call through FaceTime on a television, although obviously you need to meet some basic requirements such as having an iPhone, iPad or Mac and also having an Apple TV or a certain television. In this post we tell you all about it so that you can get a new experience for your virtual meetings on the big screen.
What is needed?
The video call will be made through FaceTime, the service that Apple offers exclusively for its devices. For this reason, you will need an iPhone, iPad or Mac. In addition to having this application integrated, they also have an integrated camera that will allow your interlocutors to see you. Of course, you must have activated this service through the settings.
To configure FaceTime on your iPhone or iPad, if you have not previously done so, you must go to Settings> FaceTime and activate the tab named FaceTime, worth the redundancy. On a Mac, you must be logged in with your Apple ID and if you did not, simply open the application itself to ask for your credentials. Of course, keep in mind that a Mac mini or Mac Pro does not have an integrated camera, so you must have one connected.
The other requirement that is needed is to have a fourth or fifth generation Apple TV . In other words, HD or 4K. It will have to be correctly configured on the television you want to use for video calls. If you do not have this device, it would be enough to have a Smart TV compatible with AirPlay 2. In the latter case, you will not need to configure anything on television, but on Apple TV you will have to be logged in with your Apple ID and also have the device to the same WiFi network as the iPhone, iPad or Mac you are going to use.
Make FaceTime with an Apple TV or a Smart TV
The process for making such a video call on television is straightforward. Obviously neither your Apple TV nor your TV have a camera and therefore you will not make the call natively and this is where the iPhone, iPad or Mac comes in. These really what they will do is share their screen with television, in such a way that what you see in these will be what you see on the big screen. Therefore you should bear in mind that the people who are watching you will be through the other device, so you have to try to focus well at all times even if you are watching TV.
To do the FaceTime through an iPhone or iPad you must follow these steps:
- Open the Control Center.
- Tap the Duplicate screen option .
- Select the Apple TV or television with AirPlay 2 where you will play the video call.
- Open FaceTime .
- Find and call the contact you want to make the video call with.
If you are going to do FaceTime through a Mac you must follow these steps:
- Go to the toolbar at the top and click on the AirPlay icon.
- Press on Apple TV or television with AirPlay 2 where you will play the video call.
- Press the AirPlay icon again.
- Select the Duplicate Screen option .
- Open FaceTime .
- Find and call the contact you want to make the video call with.
Keep in mind that, regardless of what device you are using, you must end the option to share the screen once you have finished the video call. The steps to follow are the same as for activation. In this way you can make calls more comfortably through your television, also using the speakers of this to listen to your interlocutors, although if you have connected headphones to your iPhone, iPad or Mac you can listen to them with them.
FaceTime is a great way to chat on video with friends and family, but if you prefer to keep your hands free while you relax on the couch, you can use FaceTime on your Apple TV instead of your iPhone or iPad.
You might think, “But a FaceTime app does not exist on the Apple TV!” And you’re right, but there is a workaround that you can use with AirPlay. You still need your iPhone or iPad to make it work, but once you have it installed, you can sit back and relax without clumsily holding your mobile device.
Prepare your devices
Before making or receiving a FaceTime call, it is recommended that you start AirPlay on your TV with your Apple TV. You can do it once you are in a FaceTime call, but it’s a little easier if you do it beforehand.
To do this, make sure your mobile device and Apple TV are on the same network at home, and that Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are enabled on your iPhone or iPad. From there, swipe the screen up to show Control Center, then press the “Screen Mirroring” button.
Then, tap the Apple TV on which you want to view the display of your mobile device.
You should now see the screen of your iPhone or iPad on your TV. You are ready to go!
Making or Receiving Your FaceTime Call
Now you simply need to place or receive a FaceTime call to or from a friend or family member. Wait for someone to call you or make the call yourself by opening the FaceTime application and selecting a contact to call. Once you are connected with someone, you will see his face not only on the screen of your mobile device, but also on your TV.
Now, you’ve probably noticed that your iPhone or iPad is still using the front camera on your side, so it looks probably a bit weird for the other person when you watch your TV. rather than watching them. To solve this problem, you can simply support your iPhone or iPad against your TV as shown above.
This gives the person at the other end an idea of what your TV is seeing, but the important thing is that the front camera of your device is pointed at you.
If you are afraid that your device will fall out of the air, you can use a stronger solution by getting a mounting bracket for your iPhone or iPad. This model gooseneck for an iPhone (and one for an iPad ) can be attached to the telescope of your TV or on the TV stand. Then you can simply place your device in the mount and face it in the same way that your TV is oriented.
I know this is not the most ideal solution, and I would have liked it to be a little easier for people to use their televisions for FaceTiming. However, it is currently the best solution.
AirPlay lets you stream content to Apple TV, while Chromecast lets you do the same to a connected display. But with the newly released AllCast app, you can “cast” photos, videos, and music from your iOS device to Apple TV, Chromecast, and a number of other supported devices.
AllCast’s supported casting destinations include Apple TV, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Xbox 360, Xbox One, WDTV, and Panasonic, Samsung and Sony smart TVs.
As for the content it can cast, AllCast supports photos, videos, and music from iOS’ local storage and online sources including Dropbox, Google+, Google Drive, Instagram, and media servers.
To use AllCast, make sure your iOS device and preferred display are on the same Wi-Fi network. Then, open the app, navigate to the content you want to stream, tap the cast button, and choose your casting destination.
That’s it. As touted in the promo video below, using AllCast is “as simple as pie.”
If you can’t see the video embedded above, please click here.
Note that the initial free download of AllCast shows ads on your iOS device, shows splash screens on connected displays, and limits the length of streamed videos. To remove the ads, the splash screens, and the video playback limitation, you have to unlock AllCast Premium via a $4.99 in-app purchase.
And you probably will, if you’re keen on using one casting app to rule them all.
Make other people’s faces larger, but watch out for the audio.
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Speaking for myself and seemingly everyone I know, we are all on Zoom, FaceTime, Teams, Hangouts, Meet, Webex, or some other videoconferencing tool all the time, whether for paid work, volunteering and nonprofit involvement, the PTA, or socializing and family conversation.
Unless you’ve got an iMac and it’s set up in the right place, you might find yourself squinting to see everyone on screen—or leaning in or balancing a laptop on your lap. It’s distracting for you and anyone with whom you’re conversing.
There’s a better way, if you have an Apple TV or a newer TV that supports video streaming over AirPlay 2: you can use AirPlay or AirPlay 2 to stream your Mac, iPhone, or iPad’s screen to the TV. If you purchase an HDMI adapter for a Mac or a mobile device, you can instead hardwire yourself into any TV with an spare HDMI port.
Set up your device relative to the TV set
If you’re using the built-in webcam in your Mac, iPhone, or iPad, you need to set it up in such a way that you’re looking at least mostly in the direction of its camera. It’s often hard to place a devices safely above a TV set, so you might want to position it on a surface just in front of the TV.
Looking past the device, to other people it looks like you’re looking into the camera—and at them—instead of off to the side.
Positioning the device with the camera in front of the TV helps you look in the right place.
I have a GorillaPod flexible tripod and a Glif iPhone camera mount that I use for photography, and they work perfectly well for setting up my iPhone on a small table in front of the TV. Small tripods or stands for iPhones and iPads are readily available at almost any price. With a laptop, a small table or a few books can put it in position, since you can angle the lid with the camera to your best advantage.
With a laptop, you could also purchase an external webcam for $30 to $80 with a clip or stand. Attach the webcam to the top of the TV set or at least right near it, making sure you have a long enough run of USB cable to reach your computer.
Stream via AirPlay
You can send you video and audio output for your entire device over AirPlay.
On a Mac: From the Displays preference pane, select your Apple TV from the AirPlay Display menu. You can also check “Show mirroring option in the menu bar when available,” which makes the AirPlay menu faster to access. When done, use the menu in the preference pane or the system menubar to set AirPlay Display to Off.
In iOS or iPadOS: Swipe up (iPhones with a Home button) or down from the upper-right corner (iPads, iPhones with Face ID) to show the Control Center. Tap Screen Mirroring and select your Apple TV. When finished with a session, show the Control Center again and tap Stop Mirroring.
You can have already launched or started a video chat or you can start after connecting.
It makes sense to rotate an iPhone or iPad into the landscape position to match the wide orientation of a TV set. The mirroring will follow that rotation. There’s one exception: FaceTime on iPhones stopped rotating via AirPlay several releases ago of iOS. It works fine in all other apps—include Zoom, Hangouts, etc.—and on iPads. (Apple’s failure to fix this is baffling.)
AirPlay passes the audio to the Apple TV by default. This can result in echoing and ever-louder feedback loops, depending on how loudly you have sound coming out of your speakers and where your input device’s mic is positioned.
On an iPhone or iPad, you can’t separately control audio output. But in macOS, you can use the Sound preference pane to choose the built-in speakers or headphone jack on your Mac.
You can also pick an audio output source in most of video chat software. In FaceTime, choose the Video menu and then select an audio output option. In Zoom, click the upward-pointing arrow next to the mic icon and select an output option. In Skype, select Skype > Audio & Video Settings and then choose an output option under Speakers. (Depending on the software, you may not be able to control output volume select within the app unless you switch system audio output to the same device and use the Sound preference pane to set the volume.)
If you choose to have the sound carried by your TV set or receiver, you can reduce feedback and echo by adjusting the input settings in the Sound preference pane. Click the Input tab and use the slider to find the right balance between being audible to people on the call and avoiding distracting sound. You should adjust output volume on the TV or receiver and input value to find the right set of levels.
Connect via HDMI
An alternate to AirPlay, and one that works with any HDMI-equipped television set, is to use a USB-C, Thunderbolt 2, or DisplayPort adapter or dock with an HDMI jack.
Mac output: A seemingly endless number of adapters exist for Macs at all prices—as one example, this USB-C to HDMI adapter with passthrough USB-C power and a USB Type-A port from Monoprice.
iPhone/iPad output: You need a Lightning-to-HDMI adapter, an easily acquired item. Apple’s version, the Lightning Digital AV Adapter, is $50. A number of third-party adapters with similar features can be found all over, but read reviews carefully. This Aictoe adapter via Amazon is just $18 and at this writing has largely positive reviews about compatibility and quality.
Remember to buy an HDMI cable of the right length to reach from your TV to your device if you don’t own one already.
Though HDMI can handle both audio and video in a single digital stream, you can opt where audio goes in a Mac via the Sound preference pane (or by holding down Option before clicking the speaker icon on the system menubar). In iOS and iPad, Lightning adapters route audio locally instead of via the TV set. Depending on your setup, you may be able to modify that. Some TVs need to have their audio input changed in a nested menu to HDMI to handle incoming sound.
This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Ian.
Ask Mac 911
We’ve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently along with answers and links to columns: read our super FAQ to see if your question is covered. If not, we’re always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours to [email protected] including screen captures as appropriate, and whether you want your full name used. Not every question will be answered, we don’t reply to email, and we cannot provide direct troubleshooting advice.
You can plug directly into your TV set and control the sound separately—you can send it over HDMI or use internal speakers or speakers or headphones you plug in.
How can I contact my friends that have no Apple products (iOS or OS X) in similar manner to using FaceTime or iMessage?
5 Answers 5
Well, you cannot use iMessage or FaceTime with non-Apple devices. With iMessage on the iPhone, the phone will switch to SMS messages when contacting non-iPhone users, but that’s it.
Fortunately, there are alternatives to FaceTime and iMessage that are cross-platform.
Alternatives to FaceTime:
- Skype (Mac, PC, iPhone, Android, Windows Phone)
- Tango (PC, iPhone, Android, Windows Phone)
Alternatives to iMessage:
- Kik (iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry)
- Facebook Messenger (Works on pretty much anything with a web browser)
I recommend Telegram. It’s fast, well designed, works on every platform (including web browser), requires no registering ala whatsapp, and provides sophisticated encryption options if privacy is a concern for you.
Using it for years with both iPhone and Android friends without any issues!
Check up this answer here. I love Talkatone because it uses Google Voice — unfortunately Google Voice supports only US to provide a Google Voice number (this may change in the future). Anyway, the Google Voice -app is a god-sent for cheap international calls and sync with with Google Contacts and Facebook contacts.
Instead of hacking with apps such as Skype, I chose Google Voice and Facetime/iMessages although it costs a bit to use but better integration and no interest to set up new accounts to new services.
For an alternative to iMessage, check out Viber — it works on all popular mobile platforms and integrates with their address books.
WhatsApp has matured of late and has seen wide adoption across various mobile platforms. They even have apps for Windows PC and Mac along with mobile apps for major platforms and a Web app.
WhatsApp has added Audio and Video call features (which are quite similar to FaceTime Audio and Video), and the recent version are integrated deeply in iOS and Android. Audio and Video calls can be received just like regular calls, even when the app is not running (but an active Internet connection is required).
It is mandatory to run WhatsApp using a mobile app, as the new account registration is done using an active mobile phone number. The WhatsApp mobile apps needs to be running for Desktop and Web app to work.
Speaking for myself and seemingly everyone I know, we are all on Zoom, FaceTime, Teams, Hangouts, Meet, Webex, or some other videoconferencing tool all the time, whether for paid work, volunteering and nonprofit involvement, the PTA, or socializing and family conversation.
Unless you’ve got an iMac and it’s set up in the right place, you might find yourself squinting to see everyone on screen—or leaning in or balancing a laptop on your lap. It’s distracting for you and anyone with whom you’re conversing.
There’s a better way, if you have an Apple TV or a newer TV that supports video streaming over AirPlay 2: you can use AirPlay or AirPlay 2 to stream your Mac, iPhone, or iPad’s screen to the TV. If you purchase an HDMI adapter for a Mac or a mobile device, you can instead hardwire yourself into any TV with an spare HDMI port.
Set up your device relative to the TV set
If you’re using the built-in webcam in your Mac, iPhone, or iPad, you need to set it up in such a way that you’re looking at least mostly in the direction of its camera. It’s often hard to place a devices safely above a TV set, so you might want to position it on a surface just in front of the TV.
Looking past the device, to other people it looks like you’re looking into the camera—and at them—instead of off to the side.
Positioning the device with the camera in front of the TV helps you look in the right place.
I have a GorillaPod flexible tripod and a Glif iPhone camera mount that I use for photography, and they work perfectly well for setting up my iPhone on a small table in front of the TV. Small tripods or stands for iPhones and iPads are readily available at almost any price. With a laptop, a small table or a few books can put it in position, since you can angle the lid with the camera to your best advantage.
With a laptop, you could also purchase an external webcam for $30 to $80 with a clip or stand. Attach the webcam to the top of the TV set or at least right near it, making sure you have a long enough run of USB cable to reach your computer.
Stream via AirPlay
You can send you video and audio output for your entire device over AirPlay.
On a Mac: From the Displays preference pane, select your Apple TV from the AirPlay Display menu. You can also check “Show mirroring option in the menu bar when available,” which makes the AirPlay menu faster to access. When done, use the menu in the preference pane or the system menubar to set AirPlay Display to Off.
In iOS or iPadOS: Swipe up (iPhones with a Home button) or down from the upper-right corner (iPads, iPhones with Face ID) to show the Control Center. Tap Screen Mirroring and select your Apple TV. When finished with a session, show the Control Center again and tap Stop Mirroring.
You can have already launched or started a video chat or you can start after connecting.
It makes sense to rotate an iPhone or iPad into the landscape position to match the wide orientation of a TV set. The mirroring will follow that rotation. There’s one exception: FaceTime on iPhones stopped rotating via AirPlay several releases ago of iOS. It works fine in all other apps—include Zoom, Hangouts, etc.—and on iPads. (Apple’s failure to fix this is baffling.)
AirPlay passes the audio to the Apple TV by default. This can result in echoing and ever-louder feedback loops, depending on how loudly you have sound coming out of your speakers and where your input device’s mic is positioned.
On an iPhone or iPad, you can’t separately control audio output. But in macOS, you can use the Sound preference pane to choose the built-in speakers or headphone jack on your Mac.
You can also pick an audio output source in most of video chat software. In FaceTime, choose the Video menu and then select an audio output option. In Zoom, click the upward-pointing arrow next to the mic icon and select an output option. In Skype, select Skype > Audio & Video Settings and then choose an output option under Speakers. (Depending on the software, you may not be able to control output volume select within the app unless you switch system audio output to the same device and use the Sound preference pane to set the volume.)
If you choose to have the sound carried by your TV set or receiver, you can reduce feedback and echo by adjusting the input settings in the Sound preference pane. Click the Input tab and use the slider to find the right balance between being audible to people on the call and avoiding distracting sound. You should adjust output volume on the TV or receiver and input value to find the right set of levels.
Connect via HDMI
An alternate to AirPlay, and one that works with any HDMI-equipped television set, is to use a USB-C, Thunderbolt 2, or DisplayPort adapter or dock with an HDMI jack.
Mac output: A seemingly endless number of adapters exist for Macs at all prices—as one example, this USB-C to HDMI adapter with passthrough USB-C power and a USB Type-A port from Monoprice.
iPhone/iPad output: You need a Lightning-to-HDMI adapter, an easily acquired item. Apple’s version, the Lightning Digital AV Adapter, is $50. A number of third-party adapters with similar features can be found all over, but read reviews carefully. This Aictoe adapter via Amazon is just $18 and at this writing has largely positive reviews about compatibility and quality.
Remember to buy an HDMI cable of the right length to reach from your TV to your device if you don’t own one already.
Though HDMI can handle both audio and video in a single digital stream, you can opt where audio goes in a Mac via the Sound preference pane (or by holding down Option before clicking the speaker icon on the system menubar). In iOS and iPad, Lightning adapters route audio locally instead of via the TV set. Depending on your setup, you may be able to modify that. Some TVs need to have their audio input changed in a nested menu to HDMI to handle incoming sound.
This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Ian.
Ask Mac 911
We’ve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently along with answers and links to columns: read our super FAQ to see if your question is covered. If not, we’re always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours to [email protected] including screen captures as appropriate, and whether you want your full name used. Not every question will be answered, we don’t reply to email, and we cannot provide direct troubleshooting advice.
You can plug directly into your TV set and control the sound separately—you can send it over HDMI or use internal speakers or speakers or headphones you plug in.
Did you know that you can use the AirPlay feature on an iPhone or iPad to mirror a FaceTime call to an Apple TV or AirPlay 2-compatible smart TV? This article shows you how.
Before following the steps below, make sure that your iOS device is connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your Apple TV or AirPlay 2-compatible smart TV.
Not sure if your smart TV supports AirPlay 2? You can find the official list of AirPlay 2-compatible smart TVs on Apple’s Home Accessories webpage.
- Open Control Center on your iOS device: On an iPad with a Home button, double-tap the Home button; on iPhone 8 or earlier, swipe up from the bottom of the screen; and on a 2018 iPad Pro or iPhone X and later, swipe down from the upper right of the screen.
- Tap Screen Mirroring.
- Select your Apple TV or AirPlay 2-compatible smart TV from the list.
Once you’ve followed the steps, you should see the video of your FaceTime call on the chosen mirrored device.
To stop mirroring your iOS device, open the Control Center again, tap Screen Mirroring, then tap Stop Mirroring. Alternatively, if mirroring to an Apple TV, press the Menu button on your Apple TV Remote.
Speaking for myself and seemingly everyone I know, we are all on Zoom, FaceTime, Teams, Hangouts, Meet, Webex, or some other videoconferencing tool all the time, whether for paid work, volunteering and nonprofit involvement, the PTA, or socializing and family conversation.
Unless you’ve got an iMac and it’s set up in the right place, you might find yourself squinting to see everyone on screen—or leaning in or balancing a laptop on your lap. It’s distracting for you and anyone with whom you’re conversing.
There’s a better way, if you have an Apple TV or a newer TV that supports video streaming over AirPlay 2: you can use AirPlay or AirPlay 2 to stream your Mac, iPhone, or iPad’s screen to the TV. If you purchase an HDMI adapter for a Mac or a mobile device, you can instead hardwire yourself into any TV with an spare HDMI port.
Set up your device relative to the TV set
If you’re using the built-in webcam in your Mac, iPhone, or iPad, you need to set it up in such a way that you’re looking at least mostly in the direction of its camera. It’s often hard to place a devices safely above a TV set, so you might want to position it on a surface just in front of the TV.
Looking past the device, to other people it looks like you’re looking into the camera—and at them—instead of off to the side.
Positioning the device with the camera in front of the TV helps you look in the right place.
I have a GorillaPod flexible tripod and a Glif iPhone camera mount that I use for photography, and they work perfectly well for setting up my iPhone on a small table in front of the TV. Small tripods or stands for iPhones and iPads are readily available at almost any price. With a laptop, a small table or a few books can put it in position, since you can angle the lid with the camera to your best advantage.
With a laptop, you could also purchase an external webcam for $30 to $80 with a clip or stand. Attach the webcam to the top of the TV set or at least right near it, making sure you have a long enough run of USB cable to reach your computer.
Stream via AirPlay
You can send you video and audio output for your entire device over AirPlay.
On a Mac: From the Displays preference pane, select your Apple TV from the AirPlay Display menu. You can also check “Show mirroring option in the menu bar when available,” which makes the AirPlay menu faster to access. When done, use the menu in the preference pane or the system menubar to set AirPlay Display to Off.
In iOS or iPadOS: Swipe up (iPhones with a Home button) or down from the upper-right corner (iPads, iPhones with Face ID) to show the Control Center. Tap Screen Mirroring and select your Apple TV. When finished with a session, show the Control Center again and tap Stop Mirroring.
You can have already launched or started a video chat or you can start after connecting.
It makes sense to rotate an iPhone or iPad into the landscape position to match the wide orientation of a TV set. The mirroring will follow that rotation. There’s one exception: FaceTime on iPhones stopped rotating via AirPlay several releases ago of iOS. It works fine in all other apps—include Zoom, Hangouts, etc.—and on iPads. (Apple’s failure to fix this is baffling.)
AirPlay passes the audio to the Apple TV by default. This can result in echoing and ever-louder feedback loops, depending on how loudly you have sound coming out of your speakers and where your input device’s mic is positioned.
On an iPhone or iPad, you can’t separately control audio output. But in macOS, you can use the Sound preference pane to choose the built-in speakers or headphone jack on your Mac.
You can also pick an audio output source in most of video chat software. In FaceTime, choose the Video menu and then select an audio output option. In Zoom, click the upward-pointing arrow next to the mic icon and select an output option. In Skype, select Skype > Audio & Video Settings and then choose an output option under Speakers. (Depending on the software, you may not be able to control output volume select within the app unless you switch system audio output to the same device and use the Sound preference pane to set the volume.)
If you choose to have the sound carried by your TV set or receiver, you can reduce feedback and echo by adjusting the input settings in the Sound preference pane. Click the Input tab and use the slider to find the right balance between being audible to people on the call and avoiding distracting sound. You should adjust output volume on the TV or receiver and input value to find the right set of levels.
Connect via HDMI
An alternate to AirPlay, and one that works with any HDMI-equipped television set, is to use a USB-C, Thunderbolt 2, or DisplayPort adapter or dock with an HDMI jack.
Mac output: A seemingly endless number of adapters exist for Macs at all prices—as one example, this USB-C to HDMI adapter with passthrough USB-C power and a USB Type-A port from Monoprice.
iPhone/iPad output: You need a Lightning-to-HDMI adapter, an easily acquired item. Apple’s version, the Lightning Digital AV Adapter, is $50. A number of third-party adapters with similar features can be found all over, but read reviews carefully. This Aictoe adapter via Amazon is just $18 and at this writing has largely positive reviews about compatibility and quality.
Remember to buy an HDMI cable of the right length to reach from your TV to your device if you don’t own one already.
Though HDMI can handle both audio and video in a single digital stream, you can opt where audio goes in a Mac via the Sound preference pane (or by holding down Option before clicking the speaker icon on the system menubar). In iOS and iPad, Lightning adapters route audio locally instead of via the TV set. Depending on your setup, you may be able to modify that. Some TVs need to have their audio input changed in a nested menu to HDMI to handle incoming sound.
This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by Macworld reader Ian.
Ask Mac 911
We’ve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently along with answers and links to columns: read our super FAQ to see if your question is covered. If not, we’re always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours to [email protected] including screen captures as appropriate, and whether you want your full name used. Not every question will be answered, we don’t reply to email, and we cannot provide direct troubleshooting advice.
You can plug directly into your TV set and control the sound separately—you can send it over HDMI or use internal speakers or speakers or headphones you plug in.
