Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, El Capitan Edition

Audio Chats

Messages becomes much more exciting when you exploit its AV Club capabilities. Even over slow Internet connections, you can conduct audio chats, speaking into your microphone and listening to the responses from your speaker.

If you have a broadband connection, though, you get a much more satisfying experience: Up to 10 of you can join in one massive, free conference call from across the Internet.

Starting an audio chat when you’re iMessaging (chatting with a fellow iCloud member) is extremely easy. Click Details (top right); on the panel, click ; click FaceTime. (Or, if you have an iPhone, you can click the person’s phone number and make an actual phone call, as described on Mac as Speakerphone.)

And what if you’re chatting with a non-iCloud person? In that case, click her name in the Buddies list, and then click the button below the list.

Once your invitation is accepted, you can begin speaking to each other. The bars of the sound-level meter let you know that the microphone—which you’ve specified in the Messages→Preferences→Audio/Video tab—is working.

Tip

Although the audio is full duplex (you can hear and speak simultaneously, like a phone but unlike a walkie-talkie), there may be a delay, like you’re calling overseas on a bad connection. If you can’t hear anything at all, ...