iPhone 4 facetime not working

Old phones still work fine, as advertised. Just because you can't use a new feature doesn't make it obsolete. It's YOU that decide it's obsolete because you want to use a new feature.

Your life was just fine 10 years ago before Facetime. But now, oops! Can't live without it?

That's not the iPhone One's fault. It's not Apple's fault. If you want new technological features... then you need new technology.

My Atari 2600 is still working just fine. But I don't complain that I can't play XBox 360 games on it.

Actually TJBUSMC1973 that's not technically correct. It is Apple's issue if the failure is on their part. We who bought the iPhone, bought it with the FaceTime feature. We may have chosen another product if Apple had not created, loaded, and sold the iPhone with the FT feature. Because it breaks, does not mean, we, the consumer who made a contract for a financial exchange for a feature that has benefits, need to just "accept it"

I'm glad if you are comfortable not complaining about your XBox. Personally, I honored my part of the contract by parting with cash. I would like the features / benefits, that I contracted for, delivered.

Thank you

ps. we all wanted the new technology, AND we paid for it. So, therein lies the fault in your logic.

Hi all,

I was sitting in the court room in Tyler, Texas on Aug. 15th when Apple's lawyer, Danny Williams, told The Honorable Judge Davis that due to losing a patent infringement lawsuit to VirnetX, Apple has switched from the more reliable, more secure method of connecting ,which infringed the patents ,to 100% utilization of relay servers. To be clear, FaceTime has gone from a direct connection through the internet 90%-95% of the time to a system where 100% of the calls are routed through relay servers, according to Mr. Williams.

In the original trial Patrick Gates testified in Federal Court that switching to relay servers could actually increase FaceTime call quality. This doesn't appear to be the case. The fact that Apple could have utilized relay servers from the inception of FaceTime also belies this fact. As a matter of fact, VirnetX's counsel has access to the customer service call logs from Apple and told the judge since the date Apple claims to have made the 100% switch there have been over 500,000 complaints about FaceTime quality and connectivity.

Also at issue and to date not disclosed by Apple, to my knowledge, is the fact that routing FaceTime calls through relay servers makes FaceTime calls less secure and more vulnerable to government intercept.

Lastly, before the much over used and poorly defined phrase "patent troll" starts being bantered around in regards to VirnetX, several of the officers and major shareholders of VirnetX are the gentlemen directly responsible for this technology and named on the patents in suit. This company is people pursuing the American dream of making money off of their own inventions.

The issue here is Apple's willingness to sacrifice customer's FaceTime call security and quality of service for the sake of their bottom line (there very similar issues for VPN on demand as well). I'm on my fourth iPhone and may wander over to Samsung to look for my next phone.

Thanks for the info!

Does anyone know how to restore the iPhone then recover messages, logs, game results etc... ?

Unbelievable!!! I currently own the iPhone 5, 3rd gen iPad, and Macbook Pro, and I have to say what Apple has done is pathetic. I cannot believe an innovative leader such as Apple is going backward with technology instead of forward. You say Apple's attorney stated that ALL FaceTime calls have been moved onto relay servers instead of direct connections between the sender and receiver??? Wow!

For a company that has $150 billion in the bank, they are really doing a major disservice for customers. It certainly explains why FaceTime quality has fallen off a cliff. It also explains why some of my iMessages go out as SMS. Now I know why!

I've also been having the same issue for a few weeks now, also on a launch day iphone 4. :/ I refuse to restore my phone though since I don't think that should ever be a solution!! Hopefully this gets resolved soon, otherwise I'll wait until ios7.

How is it a failure on Apple's part, if an older phone doesn't have the basic technological requirements in order to use a newer program?

If you buy a new photo-editing program for your home computer, but it turns out that your old computer doesn't meet the minimum requirements for the new program, is it the fault of the computer manufacturer that you bought software that is too advanced for your computer? Of course not.

It's not a 'failure' if newer technology is incompatible with older technology. That's like saying it's the fault of the record player manufacturer that I cannot play my CDs on it. It's called technological progress.

Perhaps you should have read what I wrote. I'm not talking about a device 'breaking'. I'm talking about a new feature not being compatible with an older device, and whether or not that makes it 'obsolete'. Whether or not it is obsolete is the opinion of the user.

My record player isn't obsolete to me; I still have plenty of LPs to play. My laserdisc system isn't obsolete to me. I've got about 200 discs. Obsolescence is a personal point of view.

An iPhone One never 'contracted for' Facetime. It was never advertised as such. No one ever told anyone that the iPhone One would be able to use Facetime.

Re-read what I wrote, and then you may realize how ridiculous your reply actually was. I never said that a device that was advertised with Facetime doesn't have to provide it. I said that a device that NEVER suggested it was compatible with Facetime doesn't have to provide it.

Read before you reply. It's a useful skill to develop.

What are you on about?? Everyone here has issues with an iphone 4 not working with Facetime anymore.

Facetime was advertised to work with the iphone 4, why are you bringing in an iphone 1 into the discussion?

Your analogies aren't even logical since Facetime is NOT a "newer program", it came with the iphone 4 for crying out loud! And since it has been working with no issues for the past 3 years until only a few weeks ago, YES it is an Apple issue!

To use your example, it would be like having a photo-editing program that came with your computer cease to function after 3 years even though it was one of the main advertised features of the computer!

Maybe you should develop your own reasoning skills before writing such rubbish.

I wasn't talking to you. Read more closely. See the part next to the time/date stamp that says 'in response to Catriaa'? Prior to that, I was responding to the person that originally said that an old phone was automatically obselete, then later I responded to the person (Catriaa) that misread my post. And now, I'm responding to someone else who has also misread my post; YOU.

I wasn't addressing the larger issue in this thread. I was addressing the specific point that an 'old' device is obsolete, and that an 'old device that never claimed it would have a certain program available, shouldn't be considered 'broken' simply because it doesn't have that program.

I'm talking about a feature being introduced AFTER a product has launched. Not a feature that was SUPPOSED to work from day one.

Read the comments in context of who I wase replying to. It was a specific comment to a specfic person about a specific point.

And by the way: restoring to factory default, AFTER you do a backup, is standard troubleshooting procedure to determine if a device has a hardware fault. If it's NOT a hardware fault, then you simply restore from the backup. Refusing to perform a basic troubleshooting step to diagnose your device is ridiculous, and ignorant. It can help you to actually fix your phone, either by learning it's a hardware problem (and thereby get it serviced) or a software issue (meaning you remove the corrupt data that's causing the problem).

Refusing to take that troubleshooting step is like refusing to let a doctor examine you to find out why you're in pain. But, hey, go ahead and keep using a 'broken' device. Live in ignorance of why you're having the issue. Just ignore the problem and it'll go away, or someone else will fix it for you, right?

And finally, I suggest you backup your data to iTunes or iCloud prior to iOS 7. Just to be on the safe side. Or, is backing up your data also a step you think you should never have to take?

OK, just spent a good 60+ minutes on the phone with Apple Support, unfortunately without immediate resolution. I can wait, as I'm not a FT junkie, just someone who wants it to work when I need to use it. Apple IS NOW AWARE of this problem. My case is being escalated to engineering.

For those who were successful by restoring your iPhone4, please check your current iOS version. I was told that restoring the iPhone updates the iOS to the most current version. Personally, I do not want to update from my 5.1.1 as I am NOT going to turn my 4 into a slug like happened with my children's 3's when they upgraded to iOS4. I'd just like to confirm that the restore did also upgrade the iOS to 6.1.3, the current version.

And to add to that, facetime does work on a 4. It's just that at some point recently (probable during an update to 6.1.3 facetime fell foul of some data corruption. Too SOLVE this problem a full reset is required. Then reload your phone with the crap you got on it. Something I haven't got around to yet as I've been away. So it's not making my phone "obsolete" just like a record player needs its needle cleaning every now and a again it will work fine.

Too who who wouldnt update. Not updating your phone too the newer operating system I understand, mine did slow down going to iOS 6. But I would rather it ran slower than on an old operating, unsupported, system.

Facetime can be working on your phone if you follow the steps posted previously. Or wait. I'm sure ios7 will have facetime working. If your prepared to update your phone!

If the corrupt data is identified by apple.

So facetime on 5.1 is also not working??

That rules out iOS 6 as the problem then.

That's what it is supposed to do; upgrade the iOS to the correct version. And why do you believe that upgrading the iOS will cause sluggishness? There are no official reports of that. Some apps may run sluggishly until the app developer updates them. B ut the iOS itself hasn't show to cause sluggishness.

Where did you get this information?

Based on a conversation I had with Apple support, the problem is related to an App that conflicts with Face Time causing it to be unable to connect. However they were not able tio identify the rogue App and said the only way to correct the problem was to restore the phone to factory setting and manually adding back the apps until the problem recurs.

I'm hoping someone has discovered the rogue app because I refuse to restore my phone to its factory settings.

Why, exactly, do you refuse to do this? What is your reasoning? What is your concern?