Now that Yosemite is out, with iOS 8 running on your iPhone, you can send and receive phone calls from your Mac and your iPad (also running iOS 8). This is one of the features of Continuity, which further integrates and connects your Mac and iOS devices. Continuity also includes Handoff, Instant Hotspot, AirDrop and SMS Relay (as part of the iOS 8.1 update).
Sending and receiving phone calls from the Mac and iPad is a benefit because sometimes when your iPhone rings it’s not where you are, but instead you are on your Mac or iPad. Now you can pick up the phone call directly from the Mac or iPad and don’t have to worry about stopping what you are doing to rush and find the phone. In this how-to article I will discuss how to set up and disable Phone Relay, how to send and receive iPhone Cellular Calls.
In order for iPhone Cellular Calls to work all of your devices have to be on the same Wi-Fi Network, running iOS 8, and signed into the same iCloud account. For example if you are an Apple family and have multiple iPhones, by being logged into the same iCloud account, this does cause a lot of confusion of having everyone’s device ring when the call is meant for a specific person. If the whole family is using the same iCloud account it is a good idea to change the iCloud account to avoid confusion.
To make sure iPhone Cellular Calls are set up you are going to open up FaceTime on the Mac. Then open Preferences by clicking on the word FaceTime in upper right hand corner and selecting Preferences.
When you open up Preferences, down at the bottom you want to make sure that iPhone Cellular Calls is checked on. If you do not want to send and receive calls from your Mac this is where you would uncheck it to turn it off. You do also have the option to choose where you want your phone call to be sent from either through your email address or your phone number, as this is what will be displayed when you call someone who doesn’t have you as a contact.
Now let’s check to make sure that iPhone Cellular Calls are set up on your iOS device. To do so, open up Settings and scroll down until you see FaceTime. You want to make sure that iPhone Cellular Calls is turned on.
This is where your Settings matter. For example if you keep iPhone Cellular Calls turned on your iPhone and Mac but off for your iPad, the call will ring on your iPhone and Mac. On the other hand, if you turn off iPhone Cellular Calls on your iPhone, but leave it on your Mac and on the iPad, only the iPhone will ring.
Now that iPhone Cellular Calls is set up, let’s discuss how it works. First we will discuss how to send calls.
On your Mac, you have two different ways to send calls. The first method involves using the FaceTime app to make phone calls. With FaceTime you are able to look up people in your Contacts by entering in a name, email or phone number. Or if the person you want to call is not in Contacts, you are able to type in the number and click on the white phone icon to call using the iPhone.
The second method to make phone calls from your Mac, involves sending calls from apps such as Calendar, Contacts and Safari. If you have phone numbers in your Calendar, you can click on the phone number to call it. In Contacts you will find the person you want to call. You can either press on the blue icon of the phone all the way to the right of the phone number, or do a right-click on the phone number and click Call “555-123-4567” Using iPhone. With Safari when you highlight part of the phone number, a box appears with a small arrow to the right of it. Clicking on it will give you the option to call the number using the iPhone. Note this will also work for alpha-numeric numbers such as 1-800-APL-CARE.
Making phone calls on the iPad works exactly the same way as they do on the iPhone. You are able to tap on the number in Contacts or in Safari to place the call. However, if the number is not in your Contacts or if you cannot tap on it on Safari you cannot make the call.
Now that we discussed how to send calls, let’s discuss how to receive calls. When you receive a phone call on the Mac and iPad, just like the iPhone, you will see the caller’s name, number and picture if you added it.
When you receive a phone call on your Mac, your Mac will ring and a notification appears in the upper right hand corner of your computer screen.
Clicking on Accept in green answers the phone call and you are able to hear the conversation come out of your computer’s speaker system.
If you weren’t able to answer the phone because you were busy, pressing on the arrow next to the word Decline, brings up options to Reply with Message, or it can set a reminder for you to call the person back in 5 minutes, 15 minutes, or from an hour when the person called. When you do any of those options, it stops the phone from ringing and the caller immediately gets your voice mail. If you were totally unavailable and completely missed the call a missed notification appears in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
Receiving phone calls on an iPad works the same way as receiving phone calls on an iPhone. You slide across to answer, have the options to either respond with a text message or set a reminder reminding you to call the person back in an hour. Also you receive a missed notification on the lock screen.
While on a phone call on either your Mac or iPad you can switch the phone call to go to your iPhone. You might need to do this on occasions when you need to run out, but still want to be on the phone call. To switch from your Mac or iPad to the iPhone your phone needs to be awake. You will see a green bar up at the top of the screen, that flashes with the words in white Touch to return to call. Tapping on that will switch the call to your iPhone. It works very seamlessly and the caller does not even notice any difference in the quality of the sound of the call.
This is how you send and receive phone calls from your Mac and iPad. Let us know if you find it beneficial being able to send and receive phone calls from your Mac and iPad.
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Is the iPhone 4s able to run all the continuity features, including sms relay?
That’s the word on the street..
Yes! I made a call from my MacBook Pro to my home phone and it worked. SMS comes with 8.1 tomorrow.
Yes it works with the 4s. I’ve been using it over the weekend. However, the handoff feature does not work; the option is not in the general settings.
I have not played with the phone part but the relay part works fine for me on a 4S and a 2009 MacBook Pro 17 inch laptop. Very cool something I have been wanting to be able to do for a long time. Have checked and all the settings are there for the phone side I just have not called anyone yet.
The hotspot connection via bluetooth does not appear to work though but I think that is my macbook pro issue as it does not have all of the hardware I think that is needed to support this.
I followed the steps in the article, and I can start calls from my Mac (just called my kids from my computer), but when my iPhone is ringing I DO NOT receive any notification on my computer. However, those notifications do show up when using Messages.
Does FaceTime need to be running ALL THE TIME in all my devices?
Could be anything wrong with Notification Center?
Thanks you for your help.
“Making phone calls on the iPad works exactly the same way as they do on the iPhone. You are able to tap on the number in Contacts or in Safari to place the call. However, if the number is not in your Contacts or if you cannot tap on it on Safari you cannot make the call.”
Can you make the call if, let’s say you write down the number in notes and then you click on it?
Other than that, great post thank you!
Its worth noting that if you have Wi-Fi calling enabled then this feature does not work.
Interesting….I can make call on my MacBook Pro via Facetime and when I tried via Contacts I keep getting the message “Your iPhone and Mac must be on the same Wi-Fi network.” I also have all the settings noted in the above article set right and aren’t getting any incoming call notifications etc. I’m so confused.
but this will only work when we get ios8.1 tomorrow… Correct??
No, it works right now. SMS relay will work tomorrow with iOS 8.1
Need a key pad for conference call access!
No you don’t. You can add pin number to your phone number by separating them from the main number with a comma “,” to indicate a pause.
I still need a keypad for when I call a business and they have a phone tree. Unless I’m not seeing it anywhere, there is no way to press 1 for sales, 2 for support, etc. Anyone know if there is something I’m missing? Thanks!
I just did a fresh install of Yosemite. Both Mac and iPhone are connected to the same WiFi and iCloud account. IPhone has WiFi calling turned off, both allow cellular phone calls. But every time I try calling my iPhone and pick up on my Mac, it says call failed, try again. I cant make our receive phone calls on my Mac. I can receive it, I just can’t pick it up
same for me, and I don’t know why is happening that, can anybody help us?
So I am not alone. That is comforting (a little). All attempts at outgoing and incoming calls on my Mac fail. But the incoming calls ring, just won’t pick up when I click on answer.
Hey Guys,
You have to have iOS 8.1 and Yosemite for this to work. I just got iOS 8.1 and it works great. MacBook Retina Late 2013 & iPhone 5s
Even Im facing this. I have 8.1 and also updated my MAC to Yosemite but still face below error.
iPhone not available. Your MAC and iPhone should be on same Wi-Fi network and yes they are on the same network.
Same problem here…
Do you have ethernet and wifi connected on the mac? If so preference WiFi higher.
Check your the Firewall settings on your Mac. If you have the Firewall set to block all incoming connections, it will prevent cellular calling from your Mac.
I have the same problem at work (90% of the time), but it works perfect at home. Anyone else experiencing that?
I’m wondering if there is some masked complexity of our work wifi network, where it looks like the mac and iPhone are on the same wifi SSID but in reality they aren’t? That make sense to anyone?
I had the same problem, and found a great sr. advisor at Apple to help me trouble shoot. Check in your sound preferences if you have any USB external or additions to your Sound Preference pane. If you do, try disconnecting and try receiving the call again. This time it should allow you to answer it from your Mac. I found that no matter what the external device was, it caused the incoming call to “auto fail” and go straight to VM. Hope this helps. I think it’s a definite bug.
I live in Dubai and FaceTime is blocked, so would I be able to do this. I don’t have a FaceTime settings page on my iPhone. Also is it necessary to have a Mac with bluetooth 4.0 equipped
Same problem ! Sad thing is that I dont even live in Dubai but the phone came from there. Any updates on this issue Sara Guarnio ?
Already using it thanks!! call from my Mac through my iPhone works fine. This is going to be useful and handy.
From what I’ve gathered it seems that the FaceTime app must be active for me to receive iPhone calls on my Mac. I can however make calls from for example Contacts without the FaceTime app being active. Can you confirm that the same goes for you?
Mac does not need wifi btw. Just needs to be on same network.
I followed the steps in the article, and I can start calls from my Mac (just called my kids from my computer), but when my iPhone is ringing I DO NOT receive any notification on my computer. However, those notifications do show up when using Messages.
Does FaceTime need to be running ALL THE TIME in all my devices?
Could be anything wrong with Notification Center?
Thanks you for your help.
This same problem i have too. Have you already found the solution? I can make calls from my Mac, but if someone is calling me, i don’t have notification. All others handoff things work for me. Just the call receive not. Thanks
I fixed it by setting Time Zone in automatically in both iphone and MBC
From the Apple () menu, choose System Preferences > Date & Time > Date & Time.
Enable “Set Automatically”.
Click the Time Zone tab and confirm the closest city is correct.
do the same in the iphone and it will work
Nice two step process, even Mom can grasp!
Uhm…
Does this work with an Android phone? Also, I purchased my Mac Book Air in 2012. Is it too old?
Hahahahahaha…. why would you think this would work with Android? As far as I’m aware, no Android device can run iOS 8
What if I want to receive phone calls but not FaceTime (don’t want anyone to see me or see them)? Is that possible?
I am able to make calls from iPad but I am not receiving the phone calls on my iPad. The same wifi and using the same Apple id and running iOS 8. The settings on. What’s the problem?
Check if iMessage and Facetime are activated on your phone’s settings.
I’m having the same trouble and can’t get the activation right on my iPhone, without it, you won’t be able to make calls from your Mac but you’re able to receive them.
Wondering what I need to do to make sure I’m using my Yeti microphone to answer calls rather than the Mac’s built-in speaker/mic setup…
Does it not default to whatever you have selected in System Preferences?
i have 8.0.2 on my iPhone 6 and i tried to turn on iPhone Cellular Calls but i get the message that Reads “Cannot Turn On iPhone Cellular Calls” i have At&t, i’m not sure if you know if there is only specific carriers that allow this to work. for some reason it did work when i had my iPhone 5 after i updated my iPad mini and iPhone 5 were first updated to iOS 8, i was able to make a phone call on my iPad Mini… Any Ideas?
And no matter what, I can’t change to any other Mic than the built-in one on the Mac. Even when selecting my external (USB Blue Yeti) mic, it still uses the built in mic..
Having the same issue. Trying to use the Griffin iMic rather than the iMac microphone.
How to create a bootable Yosemite USB Drive for Mac OS X 10.10
http://youtu.be/60xm_rGRvo4
Are we only able to call iPhone-to-iPhone?
You can call iPhone to iPhone, iPhone to Android, iPhone to land line
How to send the call back to mac of ipad??
Like switching devices mid-call? That would be cool, I don’t think you can right now even though you’d think that would be a feature of Hand-off, like hand off this phone call to another device. I think maybe in the future if you can’t now.
this is one of the most annoying features of IOS and yosemite. the novelty of having all your connected devices ring when you get a phone call is quickly lost when your devices keep ringing after you answer the call on your iPhone. The first thing I did was to disable this when I figured out how.
I use my iphone 3G network to connect mac to internet. Is there a way to still get these features using 3G?
Ajay:
These features require Apple’s newest hardware, capable of running iOS 8.1 to take full advantage. The only phones, as I understand it, that are supported by this feature are iPhone 5, 5S, 6, and 6+.
That doesn’t mean you HAVE to upgrade, but your use cases with your iPhone 3G aren’t likely to change when new capabilities are announced by Apple.
While your iPhone 3G is still very capable for tethering and general phone use, many applications and new OS features will not be available to you. the same goes for any Mac made before 2012 – Most of Yosemite’s newest features are only available on newer Mac models, while Yosemite itself is supported on many Macs made back to 2008, even some 2011 models are incapable of supporting features like Handoff and Continuity.
I think ajay meant the 3g network vs. 4G or LTE….not the iPhone 3G.
He’s referring to the 3G network, not the iPhone 3G
blame it on Apple :P
I meant i am using 3G from iphone (5c)
Is there a way ?
and my macbook is 2013 model
thanks for the help
I have a strange thing with that feature.
I have a Macbook Pro, Early 2011 model, with Yosemite of course, working great.
I’m able to dial and answer calls but only the other side can hear me clearly and on my Macbook i can’t hear him, i hear only strange noises like little “Ticks”… tic tic tic…
Has anyone encountered this problem?
Thanks.
Same problem here with the same hardware.
How did you do it? I also have a Early 2011 model and I cannot enable it or continuity.
Same problem here, were you able to fix it?
no.
I had to “Reset all settings” on my iphone 6 (ios 8.0.2) to finally make it work with my iMac (mid 2011).
Before that Bluetooth seemed to be dizzy on the iPhone.
Stefano,
For the calling feature there is no need for Bluetooth to be turned on, just same Wi-Fi network.
I’ll try to reset all setting… or i’ll wait for today 8.1 update :)
I can make calls from my Mac, but when my iPhone 6+ rings my Mac does not. Very strange!
Same here. Exactly the same issue. See one of my post above. iPhone rings, iPad mini retina rings, but no notification on the Mac side, although Messages work okay — and the settings for FaceTime are exactly the same across all my devices.
*confused*
maybe you have Do Not Disturb turned on on your Mac somehow?
I don’t know why but on my iPad the caller ID doesn’t work, I mean when someone call me I just can see their phone number doesn’t matter if I have that phone number on my contacts.
thx it worked!! but not handsoff
Do the mac phone calls that pick up from your carrier’s iphone number still use carrier minutes? i.e. will I be using at&t/verizon minutes when I pick up a call on my mac?
Yep. Call will still take place on your iPhone.
Yes. Your mac is essentially acting like a headset plugged into your iPhone – but wirelessly.
hi, my mac is running OS X Yosemite and my iPhone 5s is running IOS 8.0.2 and will update to 8.1, but handoff and phone calls aren’t working ! and I am logged in in the same apple ID and iCloud account on both and its activated as you showed us here, but still not working, it tells me your iPhone must be signed in on the same FaceTime and iCloud account and it is !
Semaan, all your devices should be on the same WiFi network. Only then will you be able to use phone calling features.
WiFi isn’t actually required for the Mac, it works via ethernet too. The ethernet and wireless networks should be the same though.
Anyway to send/handoff an existing phone call from your iPhone to the Mac?
So far, not yet.
I have noticed that if you have numbers stored in the international format e.g +44 (0) xxxx xxxxxx calls outbound from the Mac fail.
I tried turning off dial assist on my iPhone but that didn’t fix it so I guess that format of number isn’t suported right now
As an aside, that isn’t the international format. Dial assist attempts to resolve these incorrect numbers.
International format is
+XX (YYY) ZZZ ZZZZ
XX=Country Code
YY = Area Code (As Required)
ZZ = Number
You should never put a zero between country code and area code.
Seems to work with a small delay using my iMac and iPhone5s … unfortunately I haven’t been able to get my external microphone to work with it. Check box is correct as it external mic in the settings … but Facetime continue to use the internal mic. Thoughts.
who has no problem with markup in the mail?
switch from an active iPhone call to the mac?
Not possible currently
I have to set all the same email..with icloud, facetime, imessage..but i still can’t use
Hi,
I can make and receive calls through my macbook but the sound goes to the iphone and i need to use the iphone microphone. I would like to be able to hear and speak through the mac?
Any suggestioens?
This is exactly my problem. Everything is working fine, I just can’t hear my call out the Macbook’s speakers. I still hear it out the iPhone 6.
Thoughts?
I have the same issue
Same here, has anyone found out how to fix it?
The phone continuity only seems to work if “You can be reached by FaceTime At” includes your iCloud account.
Turning this off turns off “iPhone Mobile Calls”.
iMessage is a great tool, which I use all the time. However, it has one major flaw while roaming (data roaming off) or out of data coverage.
iMessage can be tied to your cell number across multiple devices. Apple are actively marketing this as a wonderful way to access your message on multiple platforms and even now to “handoff” between devices. It’s great to be able to send iMessages and soon SMSs from the comfort of your laptop, or the ease of your iPad when your phone is in another room.
The problem is that an SMS is a way of communicating when you are roaming or NOT in data coverage or your data has run out (pay as you go). Apple cleverly came up with the “Send as SMS” option to ensure that your message got delivered to the recipient when the recipient was out of data coverage. This is where things go horribly wrong.
Let’s say you’re travelling and have left your laptop or iPad in a hotel room (or even the iMac at home). Someone sends you a iMessage and this shows as “delivered” on their device because it was received by one of your many devices. However, it never got to your phone and the “Send as SMS” fallback fails.
I rely on SMS as a basic, but very robust means of communicating. The only was around this is to remove my phone number from all my devices except the phone. Kind of defeats the whole purpose. I think there are solutions to this problem. Thoughts?
Note : This is in essence a version of the class action suit agains Apple by those having left the eco system and illustrates a major design flaw.
So I take it, the only way to punch numbers into an automated menu once you’ve started a call on your mac is to transfer the call to your phone and use it’s numeric keypad? because there’s no way on the Mac version of FaceTime that i’ve seen while making a call to “press two for español” — am I the only one who has had a problem with this already???
Excellent point.
You can just type the numbers on the computer keyboard, with the current call window active. No need to get the phone.
Love this feature!
does anyone know if the process of putting your phone call back on your computer is possible?
Thanks! I’ve been trying to set it up between my Mac and my 5s but I couldn’t get it to work. This was a big help.
Well, i’m able to send phone calls with my Macbook PRO Late 2008 and my iphone 5s, but whenm i receive an incoming call the notification apears, but when i click on “asnwer” i get an error telling me “call failed” (but the iphone is still ringing=. so it seems that for incoming calls there’s a bug.
No problem for SMS Relay.
Unfortunatelly my MBP is not compatible with instant hot spot, but hey, it’s a 6-year old piece of hardware and still run well actual software. Nice work apple (but please fix incoming calls)
When I went into my FaceTime preferences on my macbook pro the box does not have an option to check “iPhone cellular calls”. What do do?
This is the same problem I am having. Everything is set up fine on my iPhone 5S and my iPad Air, but my FaceTime preferences on my MacBook do not include that section. Did you ever figure out a fix?
I can make phone calls on Yosemite, but I can’t receive them. What should I do??
Interesting….I can make a call on my MacBook Pro via Facetime and when I tried via Contacts I keep getting the message “Your iPhone and Mac must be on the same Wi-Fi network.” They are. I also have all the settings noted in the above article set right and aren’t getting any incoming call notifications etc. I’m so confused.
Hi. I Have iMac, Macbook air 2013 and iPhone 5. Yosemite and iOS 8.1. On mac and macbook air I can send and receive messages. I can make phone calls and receive from my iMac using the FaceTime to any numbers. This really very good. But Macbook air wrote: iPhone not available. You iPhone and Mac must be on the same Wi-Fi network. I using iMac as a router. MacOS and the settings the same. What is wrong?
I did everything you mentioned and it’s still not working
Today Rogue Amoeba updated Audio Hijack Pro. The app can now record telephone calls received on your Mac via Continuity.
http://weblog.rogueamoeba.com
I tried to make a call on my computer and got an error saying my computer and phone need to be on the same wifi network. They are on the same network. Not sure what’s going on here.
Does anyone know if there is a way of making this work without WiFi? Maybe USB? The wireless network at my office is restricted for certain devices so I can only connect my MacBook Air and iPhone through USB-Lightning.
Nope, it only works when the devices are on the same network. (Mac can be on ethernet as long as it’s the same network the WiFi uses).
This is not working..tried to make a call from iMac and it either says they have to be on same wifi…they are…or that my iPhone is already on a call….it is not. Have made all the settings that are supposed to be made. Any ideas???
Hi,
Is it possible to transfer the call in opposite direction than described ?
I.e this scenario:
1. I start a call on my phone.
2. I get home to my mac where my awesome head set is.
3. I click and drag and … whatever and my call is now transfered to FaceTime on my Mac
Cheers,
Niklas
Hi Niklas.. From what I understand you can switch to the iPhone from a call initiated on your computer, but you can’t go the other way. Also you can’t toggle back and forth between iPhone and computer.
I wish it worked in both directions..
MIne (macbook Pro) was working fine but then all of a sudden today every time I tried to make or receive an audio or facetime call it would say call failed. Hoped maybe there was an update or something but no such luck.
If i connect my iphone to my macbook with personal hotspot… then will this thing work???….receiving call on my macbook
If i connect my iphone with my macbook through personal hotspot then i will be able to receive call on my mac or not??
I also have a repeated question without an answer listed. Is there anyway to continue this ability to answer and make calls on my mac pro and ipad without having my live face being shown. I don’t like hitting facetime as someone has called and having my live picture show up when dialing. But I still want the ability to answer on mac and ipad. Geez! Why did they make this through face time?
I dont want that.
i have followed the same step as mentioned above still its not working for me. i have iPhone 5c with IOS8.0.2 and macbook pro retina 13 2014 version with yosemite,what i am missing please help
My problems
1)When i am getting calls on my iPhone i am not getting any notifications on mac
3)When i am trying to call other people through my mac i am getting notification “Your iPhone and mac must be on same wi-fi network” (They are on same wi fi though)
I fixed it by setting Time Zone in automatically in both iphone and MBC
From the Apple () menu, choose System Preferences > Date & Time > Date & Time.
Enable “Set Automatically”.
Click the Time Zone tab and confirm the closest city is correct.
do the same in the iphone and it will work
when some from my contact calls me my MBP shows the name but my iMac only shows number, what is the fix for it.
When using an iMac Yosemite to make phone calls via an iPhone 5 recipients complain that my voice is muffled which makes it impossible to use. Is there some way to overcome this problem?
I was set up and the ringers stopped ringing. Thanks to you I now have the Mac working. The iPad shows the call coming in but there is no sound. I am still trying to figure that one out! Thanks!
Is there any way you can transfer a call from my iPhone to MacBook while on a call and vise versa?
Great!! thanks for sharing useful post. I really appreciate you! recording app
can I accept call or make calls if I don’t have an iPhone? I have an Android. Will I be able to make calls with my Android number?
TO be clear I am trying to make calls on my Macbook Pro using an Android phone number.
I seem to be having an issue with this. I can make phone calls from my mac, but I can’t seem to receive calls to it
This is good, but a little complicated for a girl like me who knows nothing about the digital devices. I download an App called Dingtone from itune and it really changed my ipod to iphone. They also give me a free phone number for my ipod which means I could receive calls with my ipod. The sound is clear and it is easy to use.