Facetime calls drop out after 5-10 minutes

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Level 1

42 points

Facetime calls drop out after 5-10 minutes

I regularly Facetime someone who lives 8 miles away. Within last 1-2 months, our Facetime calls regularly drop out after 5-10 minutes. A couple of days ago, our devices were upgraded - my 'calling' device, an ipad 2019, to ios14.2..the 'receiving device, an ipad air, to ios12.4.9. The problem however remains.

Both ends are connected to fibre routers - the receiving end within last 2 weeks. Prior to 2 weeks ago, the receiving end was connected to a non-fibre router. However the problem remains with fast fibre routers either end.

Other members of my family have facetimed the same receiving end and the calls stay up (do not drop out). Further, all callers are running ios14.1 or ios14.2 on ipads.

I have also noticed I can facetime my own ipad from my iphone 6 - both of which are on ios12.4.9 - and the calls stay up...bizarre !!

This looks like facetime does NOT work - that is to stay, will not keep the comnection held - IF both ends are on different ios builds.

Is anybody else experiencing the same problem because it suggests the only practical way forward (albeit **** expensive) is to keep buying a new ipad running latest ios ?

My

Posted on Nov 8, 2020 1:09 AM

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Answer 1

ertriad Author

Level 1

42 points

Feb 5, 2021 8:10 AM in response to Help2Fix

For me, all I can say is the problem had gone away coincident with the launch of ios releases 14.4 and 12.5.1. Others have experienced the same having earlier had the problem. I’m a bit surprised you still have the problem suggesting something else is going on. Given the doubt in your case, I certainly wouldn’t buy a new ipad but instead consider using other video chat applications like Google Duo - which also supports GROUP calling unlike ios 12.5.1 !

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Answer 2

Jan 15, 2021 8:47 AM in response to ertriad

Not sure if this helps. I had a chat with apple this week. Bottom line is if you have a perfectly working product but it’s a little older, Apple have made the software disconnect after 5mins. Only solution is to bin my perfect phone and buy a new phone which can run IOS 14 etc. No way to fix unless you buy a newer product.

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Answer 3

Nov 8, 2020 1:55 AM in response to ertriad

I'm having exactly the same issue, again two iPads with different iOS builds (the older iPad cannot be updated to iOS 14), FaceTime drops out after about 10mins.

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Answer 4

ertriad Author

Level 1

42 points

Nov 8, 2020 2:37 PM in response to ertriad

Happened again today. Calling device located some 300 miles away was an iphone 6 plus on ios 12.4.8. Receiving device was the same ipad 2019, running ios14.2 referenced above. Call dropped out after 4 minutes. Restarted the ipad 2019 and same problem experienced again. Reconnected call and again it dropped out after 5 minutes. Will try more tests tomorrow on a different network. I do hope some Apple Support experts are looking into this.

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Answer 5

ertriad Author

Level 1

42 points

Nov 28, 2020 6:32 AM in response to Dynamicworm

Hi..Do you still suffer from this issue ? Have you seen the updated thread on this case to be found at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252054028

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Answer 6

ertriad Author

Level 1

42 points

Jan 16, 2021 12:07 AM in response to HackneyGregory

Please send your 'chat transcript' to UK Trading Standards for an opinion. Further, you do have many other solutions - use an alternative video chat application !

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Answer 7

Help2Fix

Level 1

4 points

Feb 5, 2021 7:33 AM in response to ertriad

Same problem as many are having. My iPhone 7 is on ios14.4. My IPad on iOS 12.5.1. FaceTime works fine on phone, but on iPad the FaceTime call drops out after 5 to 10 mins. First the video drops on my end and I see a green line across the top which indicates Press to Restore but it doesn’t work. The FaceTimer on the other end sees “poor connection.” We have a few seconds of audio then call drops completely—exactly as others on this thread have described. This started occurring in the fall of 2020 after an upgrade on the phone or iPad. I recently had long chat with Apple, followed by long phone call, followed by appointment at Apple store where ipad was wiped. Everyone was helpful. Everyone says ipad is working well. But FaceTime calls still drop from IPad. I suppose this means I need to buy a new iPad even though everything else is working fine on it. I use my iPad to read picture books to grandkids and it is very awkward to do over FaceTime on the phone. Someone in the Apple community said the problem would be fixed in an upgrade in early January, but it was not. I have 2 questions: 1) What if I buy a new iPad and the problem really is with the phone not The IPad? I’m wondering how I can be sure of this before investing in a big purchase, and 2) since many people are having this problem, and if purchasing a new iPad is really the only solution, can someone from Apple confirm that? Clearly it is a common issue. Should I bite the bullet and get a new iPad or will a “fix” be coming in an upgrade? Please advise.

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Answer 8

ertriad Author

Level 1

42 points

Nov 8, 2020 2:42 PM in response to ertriad

Incidentally, caseid=101229942758

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Answer 9

ertriad Author

Level 1

42 points

Nov 17, 2020 4:45 AM in response to Dynamicworm

Discussion on this topic has moved to a new thread... https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252054028

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Answer 10

Dec 3, 2020 9:33 PM in response to ertriad

My FaceTime drops out after 8 minutes?

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Answer 11

ertriad Author

Level 1

42 points

Dec 4, 2020 12:12 AM in response to warwick195

Could you move your comments to thread.. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252054028 and add further information such as the ios build levels and device types, of calling and called devices ? Cheers

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Facetime calls drop out after 5-10 minutes

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