I can't log onto facetime on my mac. My apple ID and password is correct and it is working on my ipad/iphone. My facetime preferences is grayed out and I keep having to turn facetime on. My screen gets stuck on signing in or verifying.

This worked for me. A very helpful and friendly Apple support person fixed the problem by resetting something related to how Apple views my Apple ID. It apparently has something to do with security issues and the way logins are handled on Apple's end. It has **nothing** to do with the software or settings on the user's end.

I wish I'd found smashitup's comment before spending 3+ hours troubleshooting, deleting all my caches, etc. Also I'm not sure why signing out and back into iMessage triggers the notice for the user to phone AppleCare. Since the problem was on their end, it seems like they ought to have seen my difficulties signing into FaceTime and sent me the notice when that didn't work on the third or fourth attempt. Would've saved me hours.

I called apple care as I wasn't able to login to imessage also. Took a few tries to get to an agent but she solved my problem. I told her i was given a validation code for imessage. she asked for the serial number and iOS version of my Macbook Pro and then asked for my apple id to see if there's something wrong with it...and low and behold, there was a problem with my apple id!! she fixed it within a few mins and now imessage and facetime both work!

give it a go...it's an appleid problem and there's nothing we could have done to fix it on our end.

good luck!

You have to call Apple Support and give them the "Customer Code" that shows up in IMessages. It comes up when you try to Log in with your Apple ID and password into IMessages. FaceTime and IMessages are connected, if you cant log into IMessages you cant get into FaceTime. They helped me in 5 minutes. You may have to wait 10 min for a rep but its worth it. I called 1-800-275-2273 (USA and Canada), It is a free service.

This answer from SMY89 is correct.

This morning I couldn't log in to FaceTime from a Mac Book - would cycle between asking for my Apple ID and "verifying..."

I could access my Apple ID through the web and confirm that my account information and password were known/correct. After reading this thread, I realized I also could not log in to iMessage, and when I tried, I was instructed to call Apple Care and given a 12 digit code. The support agent asked for that code and was able to correct the problem in moments. Access to iMessage and FaceTime restored without any changes to my Apple ID or password. When I asked what the problem was, the answer was evasive - something out of synch on the server-side. So I don't know the real cause, only that the process described above is the solution.

Hope this helps.

I have the same problem but don't have iMessage so can't get the validation code.

I have the same problem constantly verifying on FaceTime if it even gets past the log in screen. preferences are also greyed out for FaceTime. try to log into iMessage, it says an error occurred during activation so no possibility of getting a verification code! urgh I've had nothing but problems since i bought my macbook and took it overseas with me!

I had a similar problem. Couldn't make FaceTime calls but I could use iMessage and never saw a verification code. My iCloud account was also greyed out and when I entered the password, it remained greyed out and the enter password button was still clickable. If I logged out and tried again I would get an error. Facetime kept asking for keychain access. It was a mess.

Finally I just created a new admin user on my mac and signed into iCloud on the new account and everything works fine. I'm guessing I had a corrupt account/keychain.....who knows. It's a pain to have to resetup everything but I just copied all of my files from Documents folder. It's better than pulling my hair out trying to find a solution.

I had the same problem, try something then watch the stupid wheel spin. I called 1-800-275-2273 and spoke to customer service for about an hour trying different things. I was about to give up when he asked me to look my system preference then open the time and date. He told me to check the Auto box for time. I was then able to log on to IMessage and Face time. Definitely worth checking out.

I had this problem on my macbook pro 10.9.5 today in March 2015. After a frustrating 2 hrs, it seemed to boil down to this: If you have two-step verification for iCloud (4 digit code to your phone to sign in), then Apple is now requiring an "app specific password" for iMessage and FaceTime , since those applications don't use two step verification. I found this out by going to Message and trying to turn on the iMessage account .. after several unsuccessful tries using my iCloud AppleID password, I finally got prompted to go to get the app-specific password at iCloud online, It's 16 random letters generated by Apple that are for both FaceTime and iMessage ... and it worked, but no option to change the code to something I could remember. Then I got so annoyed, I just went into iCloud settings online and turned off two-step verification - which also ended the requirement for the app specific password for FaceTime and iMessage.

Apple software has become almost as opaque and non-inuitive as Microsoft's. If this app-specific password is suddenly a new requirement, why wouldn't Apple send out a broadcast email to everyone using 2-step verification?

Why on earth is this not made clear when you set up two-step verification? Thanks for working this out!!

This helped me! I had changed my password recently, which revoked all app-specific passwords. I had to re-generate new ones for iMessage and FaceTime to get these working again.

I'm having the same problem. Everything works except for FaceTime. Can't figure it out.

Did you ever find a solution?