FaceTime icons grayed out for some contacts on iPhone

Thank you for flagging this FaceTime/Contacts issue with iOS/iPadOS 26.4.x.

In encountering this problem myself, as an active contributor to the Apple Support Communities, I came here looking for information that may help with resolution of this issue. The issue, not previously experienced, appears to be a bug introduced within iOS/iPadOS 26.4.x. I have too been unable to resolve the problem.

Interestingly, the problem does not appear to be universally experienced by all users that have updated their devices. My wife, also having updated her iPhone and iPad to the latest version, has not [at least yet] encountered the problem. Having checked, our individual device and App settings appear consistent between our devices. We obviously have different Apple Accounts and are signed-in to Apple services using our individual account credentials; of itself, this might suggest that the problem is in some way associated with the impacted User's Apple Account.

The issue is characterised by the Contacts App contact-cards, for Users known to use FaceTime, now being shown with the corresponding FaceTime icon/button ghosted (i.e. unavailable).

At this time there appears to be a limited workaround. The target recipient can be successfully called from within the FaceTime App - by tapping the green "New" button; this will open the New FaceTime dialogue. Here you can enter the target recipient's name within the "To" field - and then selecting the corresponding recipient from the candidate list. The FaceTime call will then connect - demonstrating that the target recipient is (a) signed-in to the FaceTime service, and (b) can receive FaceTime calls.

You, I, and others that encounter this issue need to submit a Bug Report to Apple via its Product Feedback portal:

Feedback - Apple

You might be wise to submit multiple Bug Reports to Apple - one report each for the Contacts and FaceTime App - in addition to individual bug reports for each specific affected device (such as iPhone, iPad). In submitting multiple reports to Apple, you will hopefully reach the appropriate team. Drafting the body-text your Bug Report offline - and then using cut and paste - can usefully facilitate effective and quick submission of your bug reports without the hassle of trying to type the entire report multiple times. You might also include a link to this ASC discussion thread; here is its unique URL:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/256283177

Every report counts - as until Apple receive a sufficient number or reports, it is perhaps unlikely that resources will be assigned to investigate and resolve the issue.

When submitting your Bug Report(s), please ensure that you include as much detail as possible within the body of the report - including your iPad model and installed version of the OS and the impacted Apps and Apple services; don’t rely upon the pick-list alone, as this rarely includes the full range of device models or most recent versions of iOS/iPadOS.

It sounds like you may be having the same issue I am, across multiple devices. All the devices I'm having an issue with are on 26.4.1 (iOS, iPadOS, and macOS), although I'm not sure exactly when it started.

I don't have a solution yet, although there are two workarounds:

1. If you tap the "new call" button and select a user that way, it will accurately show whether they can accept FaceTime calls or not (numbers or emails that do will be blue, others green or grey).
2. If you have messaged them, opening your communication with them in the Messages app will show a camera icon at the top right (on iPhone) if they can accept FaceTime calls.

I was under the belief that this was specific to a particular user since one of the two people in my house is working normally, but I'm now wondering if it's OS level and one user just got lucky.

Deaconalso wrote:

UPDATE: I’ve updated both my iPhone 15 Plus and my iPad Pro 2nd Gen. to iOS 26.4.2 and now FaceTime icons in Contacts are no longer grayed out. 🧐 I’d have to say that Apple, with their recent iOS update fixed the bug, at least for me? Good luck everyone who responded to my original problem.

Regrettably I continue to experience the problem with both iPhone and iPad running iOS/iPadOS 26.4.2.

I have this problem on the IOs 26.4.2 and my calls drop and my front camera gets disabled for both FaceTime and WhatsApp which is super annoying - also FaceTime is now greyed out in Apps (whatsapp not greyed out)!