Holiday season is a time for giving, eating, and seeing family. But what if your closest family members live states away?
Flying out to see everyone isn’t ideal, and plane tickets around this time of year tend to be expensive. There is one way, however, you can see all your family at once without leaving the couch: Group FaceTime.
If you have an iPhone, you’ve probably FaceTimed with your son or daughter while they were away, or maybe you’ve used it while traveling on business. Either way, video chatting is a great way to see your friends and family when traveling isn’t an option. And thanks to the app Fam, you can now chat with everyone you love at the same time.
How to Group FaceTime
First, download Fam from the Apple App Store. Once it’s downloaded, a small icon should show up alongside the rest of your iMessage apps.
When you open the app, it’ll take up the keyboard area. Here you will see a button that reads “Create Group Video.” When this button is pressed, it will send a link to your whole group iMessage. When your group members clink on this link it will start a group chat with you and your friends.
Please note, your chat buddies will also have to have Fam for this to work. But don’t worry, once they click the link they will be prompted to download the app if it’s not already downloaded on their phone.
You can expand the video so it takes up the full screen if you’d like. Either way, the video chat will be within the iMessage app instead of a separate app, which is convenient because it means one less app is draining your battery.
Features of Fam
The App Store describes Fam as the “first-ever live group video app built inside iMessage.”
“With just a couple taps from your iMessage keyboard, Fam turns any iMessage group chat (or one-on-one conversation) into a group video chat party, where an unlimited number of friends can be online at once. In the Fam home screen app, you can see your group video chat call history in one neat, organized view.”
In 2016, Venture Beast named Fam as one of the top 10 best iMessage apps of the year. In fact, more than 406 users have given Fam a four-star rating. With that many reviews, it’s hard to believe this app isn’t download-worthy.
Plus, if it works as good as they say it does, you’ll be able to talk with your friends and family all the time, no matter where they live.
The post was originally published on First for Women.
