Technologies

Make Your FaceTime Calls Sound Better With This Trick

This feature can help other people hear you clearly.

FaceTime calls can be hectic, from ensuring you have a good connection so your video isn’t choppy to making sure the camera angle isn’t looking up someone’s nose. But you can cut back on the chaos by enabling your iPhone’s Voice Isolation feature in FaceTime.

Voice isolation for FaceTime calls was introduced with the release of iOS 15 in 2021. The feature muffles background noises, like the sound of kids playing in a nearby room or construction outside your window, so others in the FaceTime call can hear you without interruptions.

Unfortunately, you won’t find the Voice Isolation feature in Settings. Instead, you have to be in a FaceTime call to enable it. But once you turn the feature on, it will stay on the next time you’re in a FaceTime call.

Here’s how to activate Voice Isolation so people can hear you more clearly in FaceTime calls.

How to enable Voice Isolation

1. Start or join a FaceTime call.

2. Swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen to access your Control Center.

Control Center menu showing Mic Mode — Mic Mode appears in your Control Center when you’re in a FaceTime call.

Zach McAuliffe/CNET

3. Tap Mic Mode near the top-right corner of your screen.

4. Tap Voice Isolation.

Pro tip: You don’t have to interrupt a FaceTime call with family and friends to turn this feature on. You can call yourself on FaceTime and enable Voice Isolation following the steps above.

How to enable Wide Spectrum

In Mic Mode, there’s another feature alongside Voice Isolation called Wide Spectrum. While Voice Isolation muffles other noises around you in a FaceTime call, Wide Spectrum enhances the noises around you without affecting your voice.

Wide Spectrum is good for conference calls over FaceTime or if you have a large group of people FaceTiming someone else. If you have a little brother or sister who moves away to college and you and your family want to wish them a happy birthday, Wide Spectrum can help you all sing happy birthday to them at once.

FaceTime options Standard, Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum — Opening Mic Mode shows you Standard, Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum options.

Zach McAuliffe/CNET

To enable Wide Spectrum, follow the steps above, but tap Wide Spectrum instead of Voice Isolation.

Like Voice Isolation, Wide Spectrum will stay enabled the next time you make a FaceTime call. To disable either Voice Isolation or Wide Spectrum, follow the instructions above and tap Standard. This will return your microphone to its default setting.

For more on your iPhone, check out the 13 iPhone features you might not know about and 22 iPhone settings you should change now.

Technologies

Waymo Expands Its Robotaxi Fleet to Las Vegas, San Diego and Detroit. Everything to Know

Here’s everywhere the self-driving company operates now and where it’s heading soon.

Technologies

Apple Plans to Use a Custom Model of Google’s Gemini AI to Power Siri, Report Says

Apple reportedly chose Google over Anthropic for financial reasons.

Apple is turning to Google to make a custom Gemini AI model to power the next version of its virtual assistant Siri for spring 2026, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman on Sunday.

According to the report, Apple was evaluating whether to use Google or AI competitor Anthropic for the next version of Siri. Gurman says Google offered a better financial deal. In an earlier Bloomberg report, he says Anthropic would have cost Apple $1.5 billion per year. The report doesn’t reveal Apple’s own financial offer.

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This custom Gemini model will run on Apple’s private cloud compute servers. Apple’s own models will continue to run on devices for personal data, while Gemini would operate on servers for more complex tasks. Gurman also says that Apple won’t highlight Google’s involvement in the company’s marketing.

Representatives for Google, Apple and Anthropic did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

With major tech companies pivoting toward AI, Apple has largely been left behind. The tech company was slow to adopt AI and hasn’t developed AI models that are competitive. It instead turned to companies like OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, to help add generative capabilities on top of existing Apple systems.

Even then, the promise of a truly agentic Apple Intelligence has failed to materialize, although it has improved. Apple CEO Tim Cook also hasn’t ruled out the possibility of acquiring an AI company.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

Apple also has a close relationship with Google. The search giant pays Apple $20 billion annually to remain the default search engine on Apple devices. It’s a relationship that nets Apple money and prevents it from building a competitor to Google Search, a claim Apple denies. This arrangement was an important factor in the Department of Justice’s case against Google, where a judge ruled that the company was operating an illegal monopoly.

Despite falling behind on AI, Apple is doing well financially. Last month, it surpassed a $4 trillion market cap.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Nov. 4, #877

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Nov. 4, #877.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle has a diverse mix of topics. They’re not too tough, but let’s hope you recognize your computer-related phrases. If you need help, you’re in the right place. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Point in the right direction.

Green group hint: Like a veneer, or veil.

Blue group hint: Like JPG.

Purple group hint: Musical instrument.