FaceTimen in front of Apple Park: New backgrounds in macOS 15.1
If you don't want to be in front of your wall in video chats, you can use green screen images. Apple Celebrity locations were added in the latest macOS beta.
FaceTime backgrounds in macOS 15.1: Off to Cupertino.
(Image: Apple / Screenshot via Macrumors)
Apple is sending its customers on a virtual tour of Apple Park. As reported by beta testers of the latest pre-release version of macOS 15.1, a total of nine backgrounds have been added to Apple's FaceTime video chat app, all of which show well-known areas of the iPhone company's headquarters in Cupertino. As Macrumors reports, these include the so-called Rainbow Arch, a rainbow sculpture that stands in the middle of the park, the outer facade of the main building and various interior shots.
The eye contact is (still) missing
Other new backgrounds were also added within Sequoia, including color gradients. You can also use any images from the photo media library. As usual, the backgrounds can be displayed either in full sharpness or blurred (blur). FaceTime has also been improved in other areas under macOS. You can now display a preview of videos before they are shared. This preview can also be used in other video conferencing apps as it has been implemented system-wide.
Unfortunately, the so-called Eye Contact function is still missing on the Mac. This has been implemented in FaceTime on iOS since 2022 and uses artificial intelligence and augmented reality to ensure that the eyes always look into the camera, even if the user looks away for a moment. Microsoft recently integrated a corresponding feature system-wide on its "CoPilot+" computers. Other camera functions such as studio light, portrait mode and gesture reactions are available in all apps in macOS.
The problem with the two betas
macOS 15.1 is currently being beta tested in parallel with macOS 15. macOS 15.1 is actually only intended to make the new AI functions available for developers to try out as part of Apple Intelligence. It is therefore interesting that the new FaceTime backgrounds only appear to be available in 15.1 and not in 15.
Users are therefore currently unable to test them consistently - there is currently no meaningful recommendation as to which beta to use. Normally, the macOS 15 betas are available more quickly and are more up-to-date than the pre-release versions of macOS 15.1, which Apple updates less frequently.
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