Hey guys.
I call my mom in Poland with Facetime all the time. It usually works great.
Then, all of a sudden, a week ago, her face just froze half way through our conversation. Now it freezes every single time I call, after exactly 1 second. Super super frustrating. What can I do? I have the latest version of Facetime for mac. OS 10.8.5 on Macbook pro retina.
FaceTime uses a large amount of processing power and when the call is being placed it is normal to experience a freezing when the two devices are finalizing the connection. It can freeze up sometimes because of the connection between the two devices not being fast enough as well or if it's having to contact someone from a very far distance.
I use FT regularly and it will freeze up for about 10-15 seconds usually when initiating the connection between the two devices and then cut through to the normal viewing. When I called whilst in London/Ireland it constantly dropped even though we were both on WiFi because the connection was too slow and the information was being sent a third of the way around the world.
Mainly distance and connection speed are the primary factors in it working but even then it won't always work and using a cellular connection is really not going to be like we see it in the commercials and should be done over WiFi. Don't forget that the problem might not be your connection but the other persons connection as well. Freezing up isn't uncommon when using FaceTime though so I wouldn't worry too much about it.
EDIT: I would say that your Mom in Poland might have seen a slower connection and should check in with her service provider to see if theres something going on or speeds were changed.
Ok, so I used my iPhone to call via facetime. Which worked. So for a while I assumed the error was just on my computer. Then I tried again yesterday AND SAME THING HAPPENED on my iPhone as well. Image froze after 2 seconds. No way to connect. Freezing happens every time, in exactly the same way.
We both use fairly fast internet connections to speak with each other.
We've been doing it for a full year the same exact way with 0 problems. There is a chance that my router settings might have been changed, but no changes on the other end. My firewall is not even on.
The problem started happening just about a week ago, after stable communication. Waiting after the frame freezes seems to produce no results. There are no "loading" symbols or anything. It just gets plain frozen and stays that way, on both devices now.
Is there any "facetime connection tests" I can do to sort out the problem?
Or some other facetime specific diagnostics?
No specific diagnostics for FaceTime, have you and your mom do this with the devices though.
1) Open Settings
2) General
3) Reset
4) Reset Network Settings
5) Enter password and wait to restart
6) Try Facetime again after you rejoin the WiFi Connections
Beyond that what you can do is download Skype and attempt to see if the issue occurs there, or Tango Video Chat. If the issue is present between both devices on different video chat programs it's one of your connections or possibly the devices in which case you need to go to the local Apple Store for whomever is closer and the Genius Bar can test it out for you if your phone is less than a year old or you have AppleCare coverage. If it works just fine using Tango or Skype then it's the software and it will hopefully be patched quickly to fix this.
Side note, when did/have you upgrade(d) to iOS 7
I upgraded to iOS 7 on my iPhone, not on my mom's iPad.
(she is elderly and would be impossibly confused by the new system and wouldn't be able to upgrade it on her own in Poland)
Facetime actually stopped working on iPhone as soon as I upgraded to 5s... Maybe somehow that was a trigger for the freeze, I don't know. I'll try your recommendations tomorrow. Flying out there on Wednesday, so it would be interesting to see if it works for us to do it in the same room! 🙂
Good luck and better yet have fun in Poland/with your Mom! Honestly there's been SO MANY issues with iOS 7 that I've been unable to keep up answering questions on here for it and I myself had to exchange my 5s (which worked out well considering I was able to exchange it for a gold one) because of the serious problems I was having.
Facetime freezes image instantly when I call
