Apple’s claim about FaceTime that “it just works” might not be true for some in certain situations. Even though this revolutionary feature implemented in iPhone 4 and the new iPod touch requires little or no setup to initiate, numerous users are unable to make a FaceTime call successfully. This can be due to a number of factors which can easily be overlooked by a new user of an iPhone 4 or the latest iPod Touch.
Check Your Wifi
Currently, FaceTime is a Wifi-only feature and you cannot make video calls over your regular data connection such as 3G or EDGE. So be sure that you are connected to a Wifi network before initiating a FaceTime call. Also, make sure that your Wifi connection is working properly by opening a web page in Safari after connecting to your Wifi network.
Disable Restrictions For FaceTime
If you can’t see an option to make a FaceTime call on you iPhone 4 or the latest iPod Touch, check your settings if the FaceTime feature has been blocked. Go to Settings > General > Restrictions and see if FaceTime is switched on. If not, just flip the switch to turn it on.
Activate FaceTime In Settings
If you can see the FaceTime option is available but it’s been disabled by default, you will need to activate and enable it from the settings menu. Going to Settings > Phone and switch FaceTime on. It may take a few minutes to activate as it is done via sending an SMS to your carrier to enable the service on your connection (iPhone 4 only). Once activated, you can now attempt to make a FaceTime call making sure you are connected to a working Wifi network.
Restart Your Device
A simple restart of the iPhone 4 or your iPod touch may just help the process along. You could try a soft restart by holding the Power button down for a few seconds and swiping the slider off. Or you could do a hard restart by holding the Power button and Home button down at the same time until the screen turns off.
Reset All Settings
If you are still unable to make a FaceTime call, you might have to reset your device settings. To do that, go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings. This won’t delete any of your data or content, but will only reset all your settings including Wifi and other network settings.
Full Restore Via iTunes
If none of the above seems to resolve your FaceTime issues, a full restore via iTunes may be the only option left. Make sure you setup your iPhone 4 or iPod Touch as a new device in iTunes instead of restoring from an old iPhone/iPod backup which may have caused the issue in the first place!
Feel free to share your FaceTime issues or troubleshooting tips with us in the comments section below. You can also discuss the same on our Facebook page. Also remember to follow us on Twitter for the latest FaceTime tips, tricks and other iPhone 4 and iPod touch updates.
Hi,
Your tips seems pretty helpful, but it seems somehow my iphone does have issues with facetime. Basically me and my wife have iphone 4, and the issue is that I cannot place a FT call from my phone, but when my wife calls me we can use the FT for hours. Receiving is not an issue, but placing a FT call is. Any suggestions related to some settings that I might have changed or missed?
Thanks.
i try to make a factime call with my friend but it wont work, it keeps saying call failed any suggestions what to do to help make this work?
My parents have a ipod touch, they are in India. I call them in face time from chicago. It worked only for 2 days, after which, we were not able to call each other.
I have a i phone 4. If i place a call, the call keeps going and they dont receive it.
If they call i get the call, but when i connect it keeps on connecting.
I am able to call my friends using i phone 4.
We tried, restarting, resetting the ipod. Restarting the router.
We can still talk using fring, but facetime is not working.
Can any one help
Thanks
I can’t get the little video camera on my ipad2 in Facetime. My contact can call me but I can’t call her. I can message her but no video call. Can anyone tell me how to get the camera by her email? I’ve toggled Facetime on then off then on. I’ve deleted my contact then added again.
Hi, So my ipod touch 4’s screen stopped responding, so I began to talk to my friends through facetime, which I could still use by using voice control. I’ve been able to for about 4-5 months when just yesterday, I tried to use it and my ipod said I needed to enable facetime. I can’t open my ipod, so is there any way I can enable it on ITunes?