iPhone 4 facetime not working

I am having the exact same issue (iPhone 4, just updated to iOS 7, Facetime won't work as long as I'm restoring from backup but it does work if I use a clean slate). Any idea if there's a way to do a manual restore of messages, alarms, photos, etc? I downloaded iPhone Backup Extractor Installer but it won't work on a Mac if the data is encrypted and I can't figure out how to get the encryption off my backup (the "encrypt" box isn't checked on iTunes).

This is really frustrating but I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one having this exact issue. I really hope someone can find a better solution that doesn't include manually migrating all my media back onto my phone and losing everything else. For now I'm just suffering without Facetime.

I've been having the same problem since late July/early August. I have not reset my phone to factory default nor have I rerstored from a backup. I am convinced that the problem is caused by an app that is disrupting FaceTime.

Has any one tried this: Reset the phone to factory setting and then added back their apps one at a time to see which one is causing the FaceTime disruption?

DJN

DJN,

I did the factory settings restore last thursday. I am done manually adding apps, photos and notes. I left out a few apps that I wasn't using. The result is a lean mean iPhone 4 running iOS 7 with Facetime working better than ever. I've been using it daily. Not the most elegant remedy but it works, period.

DJN,

As studiohelper did along with many others, I had success in restoring my facetime. I did a factory restore/reset, however you like to call it, and did a backup from icloud. I read many other posts, even people actually having talked to a customer service representatives, the back up from itunes, or just a plain software update with no back up, seems to be the commonality in folk's facetime problems. The icloud backup and restore has been successful for me and others. I did do a manual backup just incase, but I have not had to go that far as the icloud back up put about ninety percent of my apps back up. Besides, IOS 7 will likely shrink you application foot print as it is. Good luck.

Hi Robdog,

I'm glad you were able to get FT operational on your iPhone again!

Did you update to iOS 7 before you did the reset, or afterward?

Thanks,

Bill

I followed the instructions given by pawltron and experienced the same outcome: facetime resumed working but did so until I restored either my iCloud or iTunes backup. Ended up not restoring and gave away my 5 years of SMS history.

I tried to migrate the iTunes backup of those SMS from the "no FT iPhone setup" to the newly restored phone by copying over what appeared to by the message backup file without success. While restoring this hacked backup, I got a message from iTunes saying it was corrupted.

For those interested, this file is in your backup folder and is called "3d0d7e5fb2ce288813306e4d4636395e047a3d28". Maybe someone else will have more success preserving their SMS.

I can't believe the reason FaceTime isn't working is because of the patent infringement lawsuit. If that was the case, then doing a factory restore/reset shouldn't fix the problem with FaceTime.

I had a iphone 4 since the day before release day (shipped early) My wife's iphone 4, about 6 months newer than mine, has had no issues.I had this facetime problem start back in July also.

I've followed the restore instructions last month with iOS6 and had the same results when restoring the backup data, facetime still failed. After updating to iOS 7 and still no working facetime I decided to do the restore skipping the backup recovery steps. However I didn't want to loose my data.

I could deal with loosing most of my apps, reinstalling when needed but I still wanted to keep some app data that didn't have cloud backup capability. I found an app called Phonetrans to do that. The free version can let you backup apps on your PC and restore them with associated application data. This works fine for the apps I restored.

The next problem was I wanted to retain SMS data. There's nothing that I would need instant access to but there is the possibility I would need to access something. samric is correct, in your backup folder the file called 3d0d7e5fb2ce288813306e4d4636395e047a3d28 is the SMS database, this is an SQLITE format database. I tried a couple of programs to try and open it but I found the SQLite extension to the Firefox browser to actually work well and allow me to browse the data. Its not perfect, I'd like the ability to export the messages in a more easy to read format but it's good enough for me to find those key messages.

There are also some backup browser and extractor programs out there, most seem to cost money but they might make it easier for those who don't want to get too involved in searching through backup directories and installing Firefox extensions however the above worked for me.

Hi Everyone,

Here's another person with a FT problem on an iPhone 4. Like most of you I cannot call my wife on her iPhone 4S, but funny enough I can call her on her iPad and MacBook !?

The problem also persists the other way round. She can call me with her iPhone on both my iPad and Mac... Its just the two iPhones that will not connect.

Indeed, I too have done a 'hard' reset of both iPhones, but this has not cleared the problem. Yesterday I called my sister-in-law (iPhone 5) and she can FT both me and my wife (on the same wi-fi network) with no problem.

Is this maybe a problem that exists when you have several devices using the same Apple ID ? My wife has three devices, just like I do... I have tried removing them one by one, but this did not clear the problem for as yet.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Hope we get a solution soon !

I have the same issues as well and lots of others. I usually use facetime with my family.

First my mothers iPhone 4 started to have problems with facetime. Then my brother's iPhone 4 got the same issues. Still my iPhone 4 worked, my other brother's iPhone 4 worked and my girlfriend's iPhone 5.

Then my brother had his iPhone fixed at a repair shop since the power button didn't work. After that Facetime didn't work for him anymore (the phone seemed to have been resetted). Then me and my girlfriend updated to iOS7 and now our facetime doesn't work either... She has an iPhone 5 and I an iPhone 4 so the problem is not isolated to iPhone 4 I believe...

Annoying as ****!

I didn't have a working Mac to test with but I was unable to send or receive FT calls to iPhone 4, iPad 2 and iPod Touch. Since you were able to make some facetime calls either you have a different problem or it's actually being fixed by Apple? I hadn't tried calling the iPad or iPod within the last month so can't verify if any calls were possible but 4 to 4 calls still not.

If you are using the same apple ID do you have the "You can be reached" facetime setting to different addresses?

When you say you did a "hard" reset did you just press the "Power + Home" button, reset the network setting, or do a full "restore iPhone"?

Ok.. It actually seems to be isolated to iPhone 4. At least in my tests. When I tried FaceTime between my macbook and my girlfriends iPhone 5 it worked.

no, not limited to 4

it is truly a shame we cannot pin results to this long discussion. it isn't possible for newcomers to read every post and there has been excellent information contributed.

Linuus, I and others have 4s, and 5 worldwide, and are or have experienced problems, lock outs, and reception quality issues for several months now. The Apple recommended solutions work for some users, not others. The Relay issue seems very logical as that was about the time reception and connectivity seemed to start failing.

there is NO way Apple is not aware of the issue and it is shameful they are not supporting their loyal user base by addressing it. I agree with an earlier poster, that the reason may be to not compromise the legal case still pending, however, it is still a serious disservice to their customers, especially, continuuing to advise procedures that will cost the user to lose valuable information on their phones.

Shame to purchase a product, only to have one of its main benefits go off the rails. For anyone at Apple to deny knowledge of the issue, is shameful.

Mine has started to work again, but not with the same high quality and seamless delivery as orignally executed.

I hope the problem is resolved shortly

I've been following this thread with great interest since I began having FaceTime trouble lately with a regular contact. My problem occurred on both iphone 4 and iMac. I've spoken to several Apple folks and done troubleshooting of my iMac. I still could not communicate with my one regular FaceTime contact. Finally I asked her a few questions about her setup and FaceTime errors after I was able to successfully connect with two others in the US via FaceTime. She called Apple at 1-800-275-2273 and soon found a problem with her wireless and Ethernet connections being in conflict. Easily resolved by choosing one or the other as connection (not both, as she somehow was connected). Voila! FaceTime working today.

At one point in my frustration, I had emailed Tim Cook. It speaks well for Apple that a person contacted me within a couple days and offered to follow this matter until resolution. I mentioned this thread and how unhappy so many users are but, not surprisingly, she was in no position to comment. I felt it important to mention this matter directly, though Apple must be aware of this thread already.

My issue may or may not have any bearing on anyone else's situation, but my error was in assuming my problem was with FaceTime in general when it really was with another FaceTimer's setup. It took a couple calls to find the most helpful person at Apple (Ella Gregory was excellent) but perhaps calling them at the number above would help someone in this forum.

I'm having the same issue - FT on iPhone 4 no longer working.

Wiping the phone brings FT back to work, but as soon as I re-apply my backup via itunes or icloud it stopps working.

I've scheduled an appointment at an Apple Store's Genius bar today. Guess what they said?

"You have to start from scratch. There is no other way to get this working again. I do understand you, but it can happen that a backup can become corrupt, especially when you have carried your configuration over multiple ios upgrades. All you are going to lose is your imessages and WhatsApp messages."

Really Apple? Really? This is not a solution!

What about wifi network keys, certificates, passbook app data, bookkeeping apps, other chat application data, account and history data of various 3rd party apps to just give you a few examples....

Imagine a company has lost an important file structure and is unable to restore from backup and the IT guy tells you "well, I think you have to start from scratch". Sorry, not acceptable!

Hopefully some big media will catch up on the issue soon, so finally this post gets the attention it deserves.

Apple, please do something!