FaceTime

FaceTime is a proprietary videotelephony product developed by Apple Inc. FaceTime is available on supported iOS mobile devices running iOS 4 and later and Mac computers that run Mac OS X 10.6.6 and later. FaceTime supports any iOS device with a forward-facing camera and any Mac computer equipped with a FaceTime Camera. FaceTime Audio, an audio-only version, is available on any iOS device that supports iOS 7 or newer, and any Mac with a forward-facing camera running Mac OS X 10.9.2 and later. FaceTime is included for free in iOS and in macOS from Mac OS X Lion (10.7) onwards.[1]

This article is about the Apple product. For other meanings, see FaceTime (disambiguation).

FaceTime
Developer(s)Apple Inc.
Initial release
  • iOS: June 24, 2010 (2010-06-24) (with iOS 4)
  • Mac: February 24, 2011 (2011-02-24) (with Mac OS X 10.6.6)
Operating system
Platform
Available in
  • English
  • Arabic
  • Catalan
  • Croatian
  • Czech
  • Danish
  • Dutch
  • Finnish
  • French
  • German
  • Greek
  • Hebrew
  • Hindi
  • Hungarian
  • Indonesian
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Malay
  • Norwegian Bokmål
  • Polish
  • Portuguese
  • Romanian
  • Russian
  • Simplified Chinese
  • Slovak
  • Spanish
  • Swedish
  • Thai
  • Traditional Chinese
  • Turkish
  • Ukrainian
  • Vietnamese
TypeVideotelephony, Voice over IP
LicenseProprietary software
Website
Part of a series on
macOS
Features
Versions
Applications
Utilities
Related

History

Apple bought the "FaceTime" name from FaceTime Communications, which changed its name to Actiance in January 2011.[2][3] On June 7, 2010, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced FaceTime in conjunction with the iPhone 4 in a keynote speech at the 2010 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. Support for the fourth generation iPod Touch (the first model of iPod Touch equipped with cameras) was announced in conjunction with the device's release on September 8, 2010. FaceTime for Mac OS X was announced on October 20, 2010.

On March 2, 2011, FaceTime support was announced for the newly introduced iPad 2, which had forward- and rear-facing cameras.

On February 24, 2011, FaceTime left beta and was listed in the Mac App Store for US$0.99. Apple claims that it intended to provide the application free of charge, however, a provision of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act (2002) bars companies from providing an unadvertised new feature of an already-sold product without enduring "onerous accounting measures".[4] As of December 2017, the US$0.99 beta is still available for download from Apple.[5] FaceTime is included for free in macOS from Mac OS X Lion (10.7) onwards and iOS.[1]

AT&T allowed customers to use FaceTime as long as they were tiered, but blocked the application from working for customers with unlimited data plans. They were brought before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for net neutrality violations.[6]

In May 2011, it was found that FaceTime would work seamlessly over 3G on all iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch models that supported it. Even though FaceTime worked only over 3G at that time, it now supports 4G LTE calls on networks all over the world, availability being limited to operators' GSM plans.[7]

In 2018, Apple added group video and audio support to FaceTime which can support up to 32 people in iOS 12 and macOS Mojave.[8]

Implementation
The iPhone's screen when a call is in progress, showing the FaceTime button (grayed out, middle of bottom row).

FaceTime works by establishing a connection between two supported devices. Most Apple devices (such as iPhones, iPads and Macs) introduced after 2011 support FaceTime. FaceTime is currently incompatible with non-Apple devices or any other video calling services. Mac models introduced in 2011 have high-definition video FaceTime, which devices use automatically when both ends have a FaceTime HD camera.

At launch, unlike Mac OS X's iChat, FaceTime did not support group conferencing. The application allowed a one-on-one video chat—only two people could talk at once. If a second user called and the user answered, the video chat with the previous user would end and a new video session began with the second caller. In iPhone, if a phone call was pending and the user attempts to answer, the video call ends and the phone call began with the next user. Support for group video conferencing was added with the release of iOS 12, allowing up to 32 people to participate in a video call simultaneously.

Incoming notifications on iOS devices are shown during a FaceTime call, but if they are opened, the video will be temporarily paused until the user is back in the FaceTime app.

Paused FaceTime Screen

On the iPhone, a user can activate FaceTime during a phone call by pressing the FaceTime button or initiated FaceTime from their call history or the Contacts application. iOS 7 and newer also provide a separate FaceTime app, as there always has been on Apple's non-telephony devices: iPad, iPod Touch, and Mac.

Until the release of iOS 6, FaceTime required a WiFi connection to work. From iOS 6 onwards, FaceTime for the iPhone and iPad has supported FaceTime calls over cellular networks (3G or LTE) provided the carrier enabled it, which by mid-2013 virtually all carriers worldwide have allowed. FaceTime Audio uses about three megabytes of data for every five minutes of conversation, with FaceTime Video using significantly more.[9] Cellular talk time/minutes are not used after switching from a voice call to a FaceTime call.

FaceTime calls can be placed from supported devices to any phone number or email address that is registered to the FaceTime service. A single email address can be registered to multiple devices and a call placed to that address rings all devices simultaneously.

Standards

The FaceTime protocol is based on numerous open industry standards[10] although it is not interoperable with other videotelephony systems:

  • H.264 and AAC-ELD – video and audio codecs respectively.
  • SIP – IETF signaling protocol for VoIP.
  • STUN, TURN and ICE – IETF technologies for traversing firewalls and NAT.
  • RTP and SRTP – IETF standards for delivering real-time and encrypted media streams for VoIP.

Upon the launch of the iPhone 4, Jobs stated that Apple would immediately start working with standards bodies to make the FaceTime protocol an "open industry standard". While the protocols are open standards, Apple's FaceTime service requires a client-side certificate.[11]

FaceTime calls are protected by end-to-end encryption so that only the sender and receiver can access them. Apple cannot decrypt this data.[12]

Compared to most SIP implementations, Facetime adds techniques that enhance performance at the cost of breaking interoperability:[13] port multiplexing, SDP minimization and SDP compression.

FaceTime Audio

A new audio-only version of FaceTime, named FaceTime Audio, was announced during the annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote speech on June 10, 2013, and released with iOS 7 on September 18, 2013. As an audio-only version of FaceTime, it effectively makes the protocol into a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), that competes with other mainstream providers in the field, including Skype (Microsoft).

Based on the same AAC-LD audio protocol, the service provides high-quality audio. The iOS 7 betas limited FaceTime Audio to calls placed on a Wi-Fi network (the same original limitation of the video version of FaceTime), but the final release has removed that restriction to allow it to work over 3G and LTE data connections, as is the case with most carriers and plans with regard to FaceTime with video. Like the video version, FaceTime Audio is currently only available between Apple devices on iOS 7 and later. FaceTime streaming over cellular data is unavailable for the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2.[14]

Limited availability

Due to the proprietary nature of FaceTime, it is currently unavailable on other platforms including Android[15] and Windows.[16] Unscrupulous third-party developers have capitalized on this to create fraudulent imitation FaceTimes in Chrome extensions, with thousands of downloads.[17]

By country

As of June 2010, FaceTime is not enabled on devices bought in the United Arab Emirates possibly due to regulations in this country that restrict IP-based communications. In addition, on devices bought in China only FaceTime Audio is disabled, while FaceTime Video is available.[18] Devices bought outside these countries support both video and audio versions of FaceTime.[19] Although Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and Kuwait originally disabled FaceTime on the iPhone 4, they later re-enabled the feature through a carrier update for existing phone owners, and made it pre-enabled on any newly purchased iPhone. In March 2018, FaceTime was made available for iPhones in Saudi Arabia upon updating to iOS 11.3, and in August 2019, FaceTime was made available for iPhones in Pakistan upon updating to iOS 12.4.

By iOS version

As of April 16, 2014, FaceTime ceased working on earlier versions of iOS which had previously supported it (iOS 4 and later), due to the client-side certificate used to authenticate a genuine Apple device with FaceTime servers (amongst other uses[20]) expiring on that date. Apple chose not to release an update to this certificate for all devices for which a newer major iOS version (with a new, valid certificate) was available. Apple did release a minor update, to the certificate only, for all OS X versions which could run FaceTime, and also for the 4th generation iPod Touch, the only iOS device which could run FaceTime but could not run the then-latest iOS 7. The result of this policy was that almost all iOS users had to update the iOS version on their devices if they wished to continue using FaceTime.[21]

Controversy

Group FaceTime bug

On January 28, 2019, a bug was discovered in the FaceTime app that allowed users to eavesdrop on other users without their knowledge through an exploit.[22] It was later discovered the video feed could be enabled without the other users' acceptance.[23] Apple said in a statement that it would release a fix for the exploit shortly, disabling Group FaceTime for the time being.[24] The bug was named "FacePalm" by security researchers,[25] and affects iOS devices running Facetime on iOS 12.1 or Mac computers running MacOS 10.14.1 Mojave. On February 7, Apple fixed the FaceTime vulnerabilities in iOS 12.1.4 and a Supplemental Update for macOS Mojave 10.14.3.[26]

Although the bug gained international attention on January 28, 2019, the bug was found by a 14-year-old high school student in Arizona. He and his mother, known as Ms. Thompson, tried for more than a week to warn Apple about the problem through Facebook and Twitter after discovering the bug on January 20. However the pair found it impossible to reach anyone at the company. "Short of smoke signals, I was trying every method that someone could use to get a hold of someone at Apple," said Ms. Thompson.[27] On January 25, 2019, they posted a video to YouTube demonstrating the bug.[28] As news of the bug finally gained media coverage, Ms Thompson wrote: "I have letters, emails, tweets and msgs. sent to Apple for 10+ days reporting the Group FaceTime bug that lets someone listen in. My teenager discovered it! Never heard back from them."[29]

References
  1. "Deleting Apple apps on iOS 10? There's a catch". CNET. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  2. "Our name". Learn More. FaceTime Communications. Archived from the original on June 9, 2010. Retrieved June 7, 2010. Apple has announced that it will use 'FaceTime' as the trademark for its new video calling application. Our agreement with Apple to transfer the FaceTime trademark to them comes as we are rebranding our company to better reflect our capabilities. This is an Apple app that should come with your Apple product. We will be announcing a new name in the coming months.
  3. "FaceTime Communications confirms its change of name to Actiance". SC Media UK. January 25, 2011. Archived from the original on June 22, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  4. Macgasm. "Apple charges for FaceTime". Retrieved February 24, 2011.
  5. "Mac". Softpedia. link within last sentence "The page provides access to FaceTime 0.9 Build 92 version".
  6. AT&T v. FaceTime. "AT&T/FaceTime Case Study" (PDF).
  7. zaone "iOS 5.1.1 ne demonstreaza ca Apple va permite efectuarea de apeluri FaceTime prin 3G", "iDevice.ro", May 2011
  8. "Apple's FaceTime offers group chats for up to 32 people". Engadget. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  9. "How much data does FaceTime audio calling use?". iPhoneFAQ. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
  10. Daniel Eran Dilger (June 8, 2010). "Inside iPhone 4: FaceTime video calling". AppleInsider. Retrieved June 9, 2010.
  11. Wright, Josh (July 9, 2010). "Special Look: Face Time (part 3: Call Connection Initialization)". Packetstan. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
  12. "iOS Security - iOS10 - March 2017" (PDF). Apple. March 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 19, 2014. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  13. Kielhofner, Kristian (September 20, 2013). "Apple's new Facetime - a SIP Perspective". Not Just AstLinux Stuff. Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  14. "Use FaceTime with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch".
  15. "Facetime on Android". John. October 17, 2018.
  16. "Facetime App". Kevin. January 26, 2019.
  17. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/facetime-for-browser/iddbbiknggadfimfnoecodkjfeiibnap?hl=en-US, "FaceTime For Browser", Retrieved January 19, 2021.
  18. "FaceTime audio disabled in China".
  19. Ray, Bill (October 19, 2010). "Apple wipes smile off FaceTime in the Middle East". The Register. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
  20. "iOS Client Certificate Expiration - April 16, 2014". Chase Christian Blog. April 21, 2014. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  21. "iOS 6 users no longer able to use FaceTime, iOS 7 upgrade required". TechRepublic. April 29, 2014. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  22. Biggs, Tim (January 29, 2019). "FaceTime bug lets you eavesdrop on your iPhone contacts". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
  23. Mayo, Benjamin (January 28, 2019). "Major iPhone FaceTime bug lets you hear the audio of the person you are calling… before they pick up". 9to5Mac. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
  24. Kelly, Heather (January 29, 2019). "iPhone FaceTime bug lets you eavesdrop on other people". CNN. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
  25. Perlroth, Nicole (January 29, 2019). "Apple Was Slow to Act on FaceTime Bug That Allows Spying on iPhones". New York Times. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
  26. Long, Joshua. "Everything You Need To Know About the FaceTime Spying Bug". The Mac Security Blog. Intego Security. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  27. McMillan, Robert (January 29, 2019). "Teenager and His Mom Tried to Warn Apple of FaceTime Bug". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
  28. "YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
  29. Lee, Dave (January 29, 2019). "Mother and son 'tried to warn Apple of bug'". Retrieved January 31, 2019.
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