A side effect of the pandemic is that online videoconferencing improved drastically. Video calls happened before 2020, but videoconferencing wasn’t an everyday activity for most people. Now, with many people working remotely or in a hybrid model, it’s a fact of business life. To support videoconferencing tools, Apple has extended macOS’s basic webcam and microphone capabilities to allow Mac-powered video calls to go beyond the basics. Apple’s enhancements fall into four categories: camera modes and controls, mic modes, reactions, and Presenter Overlay.
Apple’s most important additions rely on machine learning to enhance your image or the background. Because of the significant camera and CPU requirements for these features, they require specific setups. All work with any Mac using a sufficiently recent iPhone (excluding the iPhone SE) with Continuity Camera, but several also work with a Mac’s camera.
Here’s what you can do in macOS 14 Sonoma (these features are also available in macOS 13 Ventura’s Control Center, under Video Effects). To access the controls for these features, click the Video menu in the menu bar—it appears whenever the camera is active, but not before. Click each feature to turn it on (green) or off (gray), and each has additional settings you can reveal by clicking the > to the right.
Apple also uses machine learning to enhance your audio, providing spatial audio and two special modes: voice isolation and wide spectrum. To switch between these modes, click Mic Mode in the Video menu or the Audio menu in the menu bar—the latter appears if a running app only does audio and the microphone is active. (Again, these are available for Ventura users under Mic Mode in Control Center.) Here’s what they offer:
While Apple’s camera and mic modes are generally useful, many people have issues with the Reactions feature, which fills your frame with a 3D effect when you make the associated hand gesture. The problem is that you can inadvertently make such a gesture when it would be highly inappropriate. Imagine filling the screen with balloons while you’re on an important call with a client’s CEO or, if you’re a therapist, accidentally shooting off fireworks while talking through sensitive issues with a patient. Reactions include hearts, balloons, thumbs up, thumbs down, rain, confetti, fireworks, and lasers.
You can turn off the Reactions feature entirely in the Video menu, and we recommend doing so unless all your video calls are informal and light-hearted. When it’s off, you can manually trigger a reaction by clicking its icon in the Video menu.
As with other video-related features, the Reactions feature requires a Mac with Apple silicon or a Mac using Continuity Camera with an iPhone 12 or later.
One problem with sharing your screen while videoconferencing is that the audience no longer sees you. That’s appropriate when everyone should focus on the shared screen, but in other situations, the audience may tune out if they can’t see you. Apple designed Presenter Overlay to combat that problem—it merges your image with the screen you’re sharing. The Large option puts your shared screen behind you, like a news presenter, whereas the Small option shows your face in a movable bubble, so you stay on screen without obscuring much content.
To start using Presenter Overlay, start sharing your screen using the screen-sharing feature of the videoconferencing app you’re using. Then click the Screen Sharing menu in the menu bar, expand the Presenter Overlay section if necessary, and select Large or Small. The video preview shows what your audience sees. (Presenter Overlay has been somewhat flaky in our testing for reasons we don’t understand. If the controls don’t show up, try switching cameras or restarting screen sharing.)
In Large mode, you can move the shared screen to your other side by moving your pointer over the video preview and clicking the button with opposing arrows. In Small mode, you can move your bubble (it’s on your main screen, not the preview window) by dragging it to the desired position.
If you fell into specific videoconferencing habits in the early days of the pandemic, take a few minutes to explore the options that Apple now makes available for improving your video, audio, and presentations. And turn off the Reactions feature if you don’t want to be surprised by an accidental gesture triggering an effect at a potentially awkward time.
(Featured image by Adam Engst)
Social Media: Although videoconferencing has become a part of everyday life for lots of us, many people don’t realize that macOS provides helpful options for improving our video, audio, and presentations.