Flickering screen on FaceTime

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Level 1

9 points

Flickering screen on FaceTime

Recently purchased an iPhone SE two weeks ago and have noticed an intermittent flicker during my Facetime conversations, like someone is taking flash photos in the room of the person I am calling. It doesn’t occur on any other devises nor during any other function. I have tried reloading g the FaceTime app, resetting my phone, turning off auto brightness and True Tone, but nothing helps.

Is this a Software issue? Hardware issue? Return worthy? Thank you guys!

iPhone SE

Posted on Nov 17, 2020 7:44 PM

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Answer 1

dvpriem Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 25, 2020 10:59 PM in response to MichelleT18

No, it is not the flash that occurs when a party is taking a FaceTime picture. It us a brief and rapid brightening of the screen in milliseconds, where as a FaceTime picture is an enormously long flash by comparison.

Facts:

1) it is only while using the IPhone 2020 SE and only on FaceTime. No other Apple devices I own experience this, including iPads and other iPhones, under otherwise identical conditions such as time of day, lighting conditions, software version, or person participating in FaceTime. This narrows the problem to a software issue or a hardware issue with the phone.

2) apple’s competitor “google duo” does not have this flicker issue on the iPhone 2020 SE. That eliminates the hardware issue.

We are left with a software incompatibility between the iPhone 2020 SE and Apple’s own FaceTime software.

Videos of the flicker will be posted to my open ticket.

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Answer 2

Nov 26, 2020 9:25 AM in response to dvpriem

Hi dvpriem,

Thanks for getting back to us. When you reset the iPhone, how was that done? If you have not yet done so, restoring the iPhone back to factory settings would be the next step to ruling out potential software issues. When you restore the iPhone using a computer, you'd want to set it up as a new device to test the behavior without any user-related data on the iPhone:

Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to factory settings

If it still occurs after, we'd like to have you get in touch with Apple Support for a closer look at next steps:

Get Support

Take care.

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Answer 3

Nov 25, 2020 4:29 PM in response to dvpriem

Hello dvpriem,

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities! We understand that you're experiencing unexpected display behavior using FaceTime on your new iPhone SE. Is this occurring when speaking to a specific contact or have you experienced it with multiple contacts?

Since you mentioned that you're only experiencing it with the FaceTime app specifically, is it possible that the other person is taking a screenshot or FaceTime Live Photo while on the call?

Use FaceTime with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

Take care.

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Flickering screen on FaceTime

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