Why can I not receive a FaceTime call when my iPad is asleep?
When the cover is on my iPad I do not receive FaceTime calls. What is the solution please?
iPhone 4S
Keep it plugged into power.
Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
23 replies
Huh? Lol!
Per the WiFi mobile standards when your iPad goes into sleep mode it disconnects from any WiFi connection and stops scanning for them in order to save battery, otherwise your device would have almost no charge in the morning. External polling cannot wake up the iPad as that is not an available feature in the WiFi spec. Apple made a change in, I believe, iOS 4 where if you leave your device connected to power it will maintain the WiFi connection.
Thanks for the more thorough response. This is a new iPad 4. My iPad 3 never had this issue. It is due to the settings or new iOS?....
No, the iPad 3 would work the same way as the iPad 4, unless your 3 was an iPad+Cellular and your cell provider allowed Facetime over 3G/4G.
It has always worked this way.
I think the solution is to set the iPad to go to sleep after a few minutes and to not close the cover. The call to Facetime will then rouse the iPad from sleep mode. Perhaps I just forgot that the auto sleep had been set up on the original iPad.
Thanks again for your help.
If you set the iPad to go to sleep say after 10 minutes of non-use, and a Facetime call comes in 5 minutes after you stopped using it then the incoming call will find your iPad and ring it to complete the call.
If you set the iPad to go to sleep after 10 minutes, and 15 minutes after you last used it a Facetime call comes in you will not be notified as the incoming call will not be able to find your device. As I said earlier the WiFi spec does not include any method to alert your sleeping iPad through incoming push or polling. It is not built into the spec.
I just got off the phone with Apple Support. I didn't imagine it! The technician said that more times than not, although your iPad is in sleep mode or is locked, you can receive Facetime calls. For some reasons it does occur without running down your battery. He put me on hold and checked further. He said it doesn't always work. It depends on the components in your iPad, your network,.... He said I was hooped if I could not access that feature on my 4th generation iPad.
Call back and ask to speak to his supervisor and relay the same story.
You can use some routers and protocols to wake up or turn on a sleeping (or even off) computer. I've never seen an iOS device that has this capability.
deggie wrote:
I've never seen an iOS device that has this capability.
Except for an iPhone, right, Deggie? Because the FaceTime call is coming via your phone number?
Just wanted clarification for my own knowledge base....
Cheers,
GB
Yes, didn't add it because it appears earlier in the discussion. Also any iPad with cellular and the account turned on will also not have the issue. Has nothing to do with the cell number, has to do with coming in via cell data.
That makes sense. Thanks for the clarification! 🙂
Cheers,
GB
Actually, your post caused my to reread soontoberetireds post. I believe what the tech was telling him was that some iPads (not just the 4) are WiFi+Cellular and then can be polled and awoken from sleep via a cell data connection. This route also does not run the battery down. I think this explains the phrase, "It depends on the components in your iPad..."
Exactly my thoughts. Which were then followed by: why wouldn't the tech have been a little more specific. That answer is as bad as the posts we get like "my iTunes doesn't work"....geeeeez!
GB
Why can I not receive a FaceTime call when my iPad is asleep?