Take Control of FaceTime and Messages, 4th Edition

Version 4.0, updated September 29, 2025

Dig into FaceTime, Messages, and Phone from the basics through the most advanced and interesting features available, including screen sharing, group calls, and sending rich messages in Take Control of FaceTime and Messages. This comprehensive book will answer every question and reveal useful features you never knew existed.n FaceTime, Messages, and Phone form the core of video, texting, and calling tools for Apple devices. In this book, Glenn Fleishman lays out your options to best understand, use, and customize these apps. Start by mastering (or reviewing) the basics of each app, then move into group calls and texts, using rich media, maintaining your privacy, and adding whimsy to conversations. Covers iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS.

The book covers what's new in the FaceTime, Messages, and Phone apps (updated for macOS 26 Tahoe, iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26.

You will learn how to:

• Master the basics of the FaceTime, Messages, and Phone apps

• Make and receive phone calls with the new Phone apps for iPad and Mac and the updated Phone app for iPhone

• Understand the updated, unified interface for FaceTime and iPhone, which highlights your favorite and most recent calls and conversations

• Filter and block unwanted phone calls and messages

• Work with the Filter menu, and use it to show just what you need to see in an app

• Enable Live Translation to carry on a real-time conversation with someone who speaks another language via text or audio

You’ll learn about FaceTime capabilities such as:

• Managing the many filters and options for how you appear on a call, such as blurring or replacing your background, or making you appear better lit in the foreground

• How to use FaceTime for audio or video calls with one person or a group of up to 32 people

• Why you might want to use a FaceTime Link, and how it can extend FaceTime to Windows and Android users

• How to work with audio input and output devices in FaceTime

• How to use enhanced audio (Mic Mode) and video (Portrait Mode) effects in FaceTime calls on supported devices

• How to place and receive FaceTime calls on an Apple TV using Continuity Camera

• How to use SharePlay, which lets parties carry on a FaceTime conversation while enjoying synchronized video, audio, or screen sharing

Find out things you never knew about Messages, including:

• Why some conversations in Messages use iMessage (blue bubbles for individuals, gray bubbles for businesses) while others use SMS/MMS/RCS (green bubbles), and the differences between them

• How to conduct a poll in a group chat

• All about advanced Messages features, such as nested replies and person-to-person Apple Pay

• Why Messages isn’t just for text, but also for audio messages, Digital Touch effects, animations, and more

• How to use satellite features to send and receive iMessages when you're outside cellular range

• Simple ways to create events and reminders from Messages conversations

• What to do when group chats get out of control—managing notifications, using mentions, and understanding the differences between SMS and MMS chats

• How to view transcriptions of audio messages

Make better use of the Phone app:

• How to make phone calls (including emergency calls) using the new or updated Phone app from your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch

• Manage call waiting or create conference calls

• Record a call (with permission and view a live transcript of the conversation in progress

• Screen calls by having the caller identify themselves and their reason for calling to an automated assistant

• Block unwanted calls without even hearing the Phone app ring

• How to use Live Voicemail to see the message a caller is leaving in real time