iOS 5 Beta’s Add AirPlay Support for FaceTime

Wednesday July 13, 2011 7:38 am PDT by Eric Slivka on MacRumours

As noted by TiPb, the third beta of iOS 5 released earlier this week has activated new AirPlay streaming support for FaceTime video calling. The feature allows users to display FaceTime video calls directly on a large-screen TV for easy viewing by larger groups of people.

If this makes it into the final release — and not everything does — it’ll be fantastic for families and businesses alike.

The ability to easily start a video call and beam it onto the big screen is compelling. Whether it’s grandpa and grandma, or the team in England, it takes FaceTime from a small, personal experience to a big, group experience at the touch of a button.

With the FaceTime camera of course remaining on the iOS device itself, users taking advantage of the new AirPlay feature while participating in a FaceTime video call will need to ensure that they are looking in the proper direction, but it certainly appears that FaceTime over AirPlay does add some utility for video calling in group settings.