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Facetime strangeness

So on my iPhone SE 15.3.1, I call up a contact. I am offered the option of "Video". I press that, and the text "Facetime" is displayed, with a choice of phone or e-mail. I go with phone. From then on EVERY OTHER CONTACT I OPEN offers me "Facetime", instead of "Video", and doesn't offer me any options of phone versus e-mail. Just goes with phone.


Why did the options change? Why am I not offered to do Facetime to an e-mail address anymore?


[Edited by Moderator]

Posted on Mar 14, 2022 6:37 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 21, 2022 10:49 AM

Dannymac22,


Just to let you know, currently the latest version of iOS and iPadOS is 15.4.


It looks like what happened is your contacts just needed to refresh and recognize that the phone numbers and email addresses (if the recipient has it set up that way) are registered with FaceTime. Then the 'Video' option that you see gets replaced with FaceTime.


When you tap a person's contact information, FaceTime is going to try to connect using any FaceTime-enabled numbers or addresses that you have stored for that contact. This way you have the best success rate in connecting. So, in some instances, instead of offering you the choice of phone number or email it doesn't need to because it's calling them both at the same time.


We hope that helps provide some insight on what's happening.

6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 21, 2022 10:49 AM in response to Dannymac22

Dannymac22,


Just to let you know, currently the latest version of iOS and iPadOS is 15.4.


It looks like what happened is your contacts just needed to refresh and recognize that the phone numbers and email addresses (if the recipient has it set up that way) are registered with FaceTime. Then the 'Video' option that you see gets replaced with FaceTime.


When you tap a person's contact information, FaceTime is going to try to connect using any FaceTime-enabled numbers or addresses that you have stored for that contact. This way you have the best success rate in connecting. So, in some instances, instead of offering you the choice of phone number or email it doesn't need to because it's calling them both at the same time.


We hope that helps provide some insight on what's happening.

Mar 15, 2022 1:44 PM in response to Dannymac22

Dannymac22


Got it. By chance, have you tried restarting your phone to see is that helps: Restart your iPhone

If so, next we'd try updating your iPhone SE to the latest sower version: Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch wirelessly


1. Back up your device using iCloud or your computer.


2. Plug your device into power and connect to the internet with Wi-Fi.


3. Go to Settings > General, then tap Software Update.


4. If you see two software update options available, choose the one that you want to install.


The Settings app on iPhone showing options to update to iOS 14.8 or iOS 15.




5. Tap Install Now. If you see Download and Install instead, tap it to download the update, enter your passcode, then tap Install Now. If you don't know your passcode, learn what to do.




You might see that your device is up to date and that there's an upgrade available. For example, even if your device is up to date with the latest version of iOS 14, there might be an option to upgrade to iOS 15. You might want to upgrade iOS when you pair an accessory with iPhone.


Or watch on YouTube here:



Also, do you experience this behavior when using the FaceTime app to make a call?


Cheers!

Mar 15, 2022 12:54 PM in response to Dannymac22

Hello Dannymac22,


On the contacts, do you have their email listed or only the phone number? Additionally, can you dial their email manually? Per the article :


If you have the person's phone number or email address saved in your Contacts, you can start typing their name and tap the name when it appears. Then tap the Audio button or FaceTime.


Thanks!

Mar 21, 2022 11:03 AM in response to AnnieL2

Thank you. That makes a lot of sense. The system had maybe not yet established that these contacts were registered for Facetime. I may have clicked on a contact that I hadn't clicked on before, so the system had never really bothered to do that establishment. So I gather that new entries in my contact list may briefly show up as offering "Video" instead of "Facetime" until their Facetime registration is established. That all being said, this behavior is, I guess, completely normal. Now, I'm pretty sure that when I first posted this issue, the latest version WAS 15.3.

Facetime strangeness

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