Turn Your Mac into a Speakerphone

It’s probably happened to you before: You hear your iPhone’s muffled ringing, but whether it’s buried deep in a coat pocket or purse, you won’t find it in time to answer the call. Yosemite can fix this daily aggravation. Leave your phone be and answer the call on your Mac ①. Need to make a call? You can do that from your Mac, too.

① Yosemite lets you make and receive calls on your Mac via your iPhone. Add an onscreen dial pad, like this free one from Eytan Schulman and Harrison Weinerman, to make calling even easier.

Get Set Up

To use Yosemite’s new phone features, you must also have an iPhone running iOS 8. Then, take these steps:

Double-check that your iPhone and Mac are signed in to FaceTime with the same Apple ID. On your Mac, go to FaceTime > Preferences and on your iPhone, tap Settings > FaceTime.

Note: To use Yosemite’s phone features, you must also have an iPhone running iOS 8 (or newer).
Make sure the iPhone and Mac are on the same Wi-Fi network. On your Mac, go to System Preferences > Network, click Wi-Fi, and check the network name. On your phone, tap Settings > Wi-Fi to see the name of the network.
On your iPhone, tap Settings > FaceTime and check that the iPhone Cellular Calls switch is on. This lets you make and receive calls on devices (your Mac or iPad) that are signed in to your iCloud account and on the same Wi-Fi network.
On your Mac, go to FaceTime > Preferences and select iPhone Cellular Calls ②.

② Make sure the iPhone Cellular Calls box is checked in your Mac’s FaceTime preferences.

Receive a Call on Your Mac

When a call comes in for your iPhone, your Mac will also chime. A notification shows the caller’s name (if he or she is listed in Contacts) or number ③.

③ An incoming call appears as a small notification in the corner of your screen. Click Accept to start talking.

Click Accept to answer. When you’re connected, the notification becomes a small window with phone controls ④. Click Video to start a FaceTime session. Click Mute to mute audio during an ongoing call—for instance, to discreetly ask someone else in the room a question. Click End to hang up.

④ When you answer a call, the notification becomes a small window with phone controls.

If you don’t want to answer a call, click Decline. Or, click the arrow next to Decline to see choose an option, including Reply with Message, Remind Me in 5 Minutes, and so on ⑤.

⑤ Click the arrow next to Decline to see options for dealing with calls you don’t answer.

If you miss a call, a notification lingers on your screen to let you know when you return.

Make a Call from your Mac

To make a call from your Mac, click a phone number in Contacts, Calendar, or Safari. FaceTime launches and your call is made. (There’s no video involved—unless you initiate it. FaceTime handles the audio.)

To call someone you spoke with recently, click the phone button next to his or her number in FaceTime ⑥.

⑥ FaceTime keeps track of your recent calls. Click the phone button next to a person’s name to call again. Click the “i” button to see his or her Contacts card.

Tip: Want an onscreen way to dial numbers? The Continuity Keypad app lets you do just that. You can even add the keypad to your Notification Center sidebar and dial from there. (See Add a Widget.) Unfortunately, interactive voice response systems—the ones that say, for instance, “Press 1 now for….”—don’t register its tones.

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