How to use the FaceTime Portrait effect in other apps

• 26 minutes ago
• Mehdi Nitmazi

• interaction

The new feature called “Portrait” in FaceTime on iOS 15 is not exclusive to FaceTime, but can also be used to blur the background in video calls made through other apps like WhatsApp, Messenger, Zoom and other Snapchat.

Apple Impact at Your Fingertips for (Almost) Everyone

with updates iOS 15 and iPadOS 15Apple brought Portrait-style video to FaceTime on iPhone and iPad, creating attractive background blurring in real-time video chats, as well as several new features like link sharing or simultaneous transmission via SharePlay.

When Apple released iOS 15, it didn’t say whether background blur on video calls and microphone recording effects were limited to FaceTime.

FaceTime has its own built-in controls for Portrait video. But it turns out that any app that accesses the microphone or the camera can use the audio and video effects of iOS 15. In fact, the controls for the video and audio effects are displayed automatically in the Control Center as soon as the video starts. In Zoom, Snapchat, Instagram and similar apps.

While most apps take advantage of these features directly and for free, some will need to be updated to implement the latest SDK from Apple. Other apps may even choose to block access to these features.

Use iOS 15 microphone and video effects in apps

To use it is very easy, just start playing a video in a third-party app like Zoom, Webex or others and view the control center. From there, you will have two buttons to choose your preferred video and microphone effect on the go.

• Click on “Video Effects” and select the desired video effect.
• Click on Microphone Mode and choose the desired sound effect.

You can only choose portrait mode as an effect for your video at the moment. We imagine Apple will go even further in future releases, for example iOS 16, with new system-wide effects. On the microphone recording mode side, we find sound isolation and a wide spectrum.

The video effect works in portrait mode as well as in the camera, blurring everything in the background to emphasize your face and body.

When it comes to broadband sound isolation and AI-assisted microphone effects, the former attempts to block out as much ambient noise as possible to focus on your voice, while the latter includes temporary ambient sounds. You want the other person to hear everything.

These video and audio effects are applied to the camera and microphone data in real time. Processing audio and video streams can be resource intensive, so you may need a relatively new iPhone or iPad model to take advantage of this cool new feature on iOS 15 and iPadOS 15.

Minimum configuration for video effects

If you clearly need iOS 15, you will also need a compatible iPhone model that meets the minimum requirements for video effects and microphone. Apple designed this feature for a specific chipset, not for a device. To use the audio and video effects, you’ll need an iPhone or iPad model that supports the A12 Bionic chip, whether it’s an iPhone XS, iPhone XR, iPad mini 5, iPad Air 3, or iPad Pro 2018. Whatever is released to you next.

So, do you know this iOS 15 trick?