Apple is giving Zoom a run for its money

Apple kicked off its annual developers conference on Monday by unveiling updates to a service many have relied on more heavily throughout the pandemic: FaceTime.

Apple will offer new options to let users watch movies or listen to music together while using FaceTime. It is also introducing a new grid view to better broadcast every face on a call.

“We’ve all found ourselves using video calling for just about everything,” Craig Federighi, Apple’s SVP of software engineering, said during a keynote presentation on Monday.

The features were announced at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, a multi-day event that’s typically heavy on software news.

The company is rumored to be planning a range of announcements, including revamped MacBooks, updated iMessage features and an overhaul of the iPad operating system.

Beyond new gadgets and the introduction of iOS 15, WWDC will also be an opportunity for Apple to address its developer community in the midst of two major recent spats with app makers — a contentious legal battle with Fortnite-maker Epic Games over Apple’s App Store fees and a feud with Facebook over Apple’s new app-tracking privacy policy.

This year, for the second time, Apple’s WWDC is being held online.