FaceTime only an option for some contacts

I have finally figured out what Apple could not. When you have a greyed out face time icon and cannot connect to one particular person, HERE IS THE FIX!!!!!!!!!!

Remove that persons email and exchange it for THEIR ICLOUD APPLE ID. Problem solved!!!! You can now access the FACE TIME icon that is no longer GREYED OUT!!!!!

The contact number IS Apple iPhone already. That's the point of the problem - both our phones are iPhones, both have iMessage enabled, Apple ID's, both phones have Facetime enabled, etc. and both phones can use Facetime, BUT for some reason my husband's phone contact in my contact list has the Facetime icon greyed (on his phone my contact is correct and is blue/enabled.) For my husband to reach out to me via Facetime he need only pull up my contact info and press on the icon - for me to reach out to him via Facetime I must open the Facetime app and initiate the Facetime call through the history of his previous calls to me. Apple customer service worked extensively with me on this and concluded that ALL of our settings are correct and Facetime SHOULD be working, and they confirmed that we are in a select group with this known issue.

On the hopeful side, we were just sent an update and with some luck the fix is in it! It's only been a couple days since we applied it - sometimes it takes a few days and/or cycling of the iPhones ON/OFF before the updates are truly complete. I'll post an again soon.

Finally a fix! This worked for me: Assuming you have the phone that does not have the FT logo lit, go ahead and start fresh by deleting the contact of the person entirely. Then call yourself using their phone and create a new contact. When done on their phone go to Settings>FaceTime and make sure the section that says YOU CAN ALSO BE REACHED BY FACETIME AT has their Apple ID email checked. On their contact card please insert the same exact email on your phone and viola! When they fix the bug the other stuff will wash out!

FaceTime will only show up on contacts that have an iOS device or Mac that they have set up to use FaceTime on. If a contact shows that FaceTime is an option they have an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or a Mac that is FaceTime enabled through their phone number or Apple ID. If the contact does not show FaceTime they are using a non-Apple device or have not enabled FaceTime on their device. There are other apps available that allow you to do video calls with these users.

Hello. The fix for me was to write the phone number as it was for the other person that has FaceTime and add also the iCloud email address in the contact details. The iCloud email addres should be marked with iCloud in the contact details.

Issue Resolved by Resetting All Settings by going to

Settings>General>Reset(down at the bottom)>Reset All settings

No you will not lose any data but you will need to put back your wi-fi password in

Why doesn't apple respond to this problem that so many people are saying they have here? I have the same problem . last week I could talk with my friend this week none of them show in Facetime. Hello Apple....are you listening?

mzaur wrote:

I don't know why this is so broken. I am able to facetime both my parents from the Facetime app from the recent calls list. But if I search for their contact in Facetime app, the facetime icon is greyed out. We just successfully had several facetime calls. I called them, they called me, etc. But the facetime icon still won't show up in Contacts or Messages. I've tried deleting/readding their contacts. They toggled facetime and imessage off and on. Very strange bug.

I am having exact same puzzling issues with trying to Facetime with my spouse. I spent time with Apple support, and we went through quite a list of things to try and check (many mentioned here) but we met with no fix. We ended with turning off iMessage and Facetime and restarting after cycling phone off then on. Unfortunately they both hung at "activating" and Apple representative told me that it was not unexpected and that they would call me back after 24 hours when, hopefully, the activations will have completed. Fingers crossed.

LivingInOhio wrote:

mzaur wrote:

I don't know why this is so broken. I am able to facetime both my parents from the Facetime app from the recent calls list. But if I search for their contact in Facetime app, the facetime icon is greyed out. We just successfully had several facetime calls. I called them, they called me, etc. But the facetime icon still won't show up in Contacts or Messages. I've tried deleting/readding their contacts. They toggled facetime and imessage off and on. Very strange bug.

I am having exact same puzzling issues with trying to Facetime with my spouse. I spent time with Apple support, and we went through quite a list of things to try and check (many mentioned here) but we met with no fix. We ended with turning off iMessage and Facetime and restarting after cycling phone off then on. Unfortunately they both hung at "activating" and Apple representative told me that it was not unexpected and that they would call me back after 24 hours when, hopefully, the activations will have completed. Fingers crossed.

An update: the Apple representative phoned back last night, and by then the activating had completed as expected. Sadly, it didn't fix the issue. However, the rep informed me that she'd done more digging for help/info on this issue during the interim, and she discovered that Apple is already aware of this being a problem and that they are indeed working on a fix. When I asked if they would notify me when the fix was available, she told me she personally would try to reach out to me if she gained news of which update would include the fix, but that there would be no further communication from Apple on the matter. She said it is a known issue, that they are currently working on and fix, and that the fix would simply be included in some future update; so I should be sure to download and apply all updates as they come. She suggested I check after each update to see if the issue persisted or was taken care of. She could provide no estimated timeline, so I guess I must remain patient and hopeful. Fingers crossed!

Same issue with me. I biught a new used iphone 5s to my son and his contact doesnt ahow Facetime however i can facetime him through Facetime app Only.

This is a bizarre status not showing in contacts knowing that his cell phone is registered on icloud and iMessage too.

For some reason it seems that Apple is not recognizing that persons phone number as being related to an Apple ID so if you follow the instructions I posted earlier in this thread you should be able to contact him through contacts via FaceTime through the email that’s associated with his Apple ID instead of the phone number.

Thank you Ssalanitri14 for the tip, though your suggestion did not solve the issue for us. I'm glad your issue was solved, though! BTW, the Apple ID email IS checked (to allow being reached by Apple ID email), but the Facetime indicator remains absent from the contacts listing for just my husband's contact, even though we CAN Facetime if we go directly through the app.

The contact number IS Apple iPhone already. That's the point of the problem - both our phones are iPhones, both have iMessage enabled, Apple ID's, both phones have Facetime enabled, etc. and both phones can use Facetime, BUT for some reason my husband's phone contact in my contact list has the Facetime icon greyed (on his phone my contact is correct and is blue/enabled.) For my husband to reach out to me via Facetime he need only pull up my contact info and press on the icon - for me to reach out to him via Facetime I must open the Facetime app and initiate the Facetime call through the history of his previous calls to me. Apple customer service worked extensively with me on this and concluded that ALL of our settings are correct and Facetime SHOULD be working, and they confirmed that we are in a select group with this known issue.

On the hopeful side, we were just sent an update and with some luck the fix is in it! It's only been a couple days since we applied it - sometimes it takes a few days and/or cycling of the iPhones ON/OFF before the updates are truly complete. I'll post an again soon.

SOLVED!!! UPDATE 31 DECEMBER 2017: Fabulous news! Just cycled both our phones off and on again since my last post (this was the third time to perform on/off cycle since the iOS 11.2.1 update was sent) and Facetime is functioning fully now! Didn't have to change a thing - the Facetime icon in the contacts entry for my husband's info simply shows lit up blue now! We gave it two quick tests, each of us initiating a Facetime call to the other from Contacts, and everything is working perfectly - yay! For those of you dealing with this odd hit and miss problem, check your iOS and if it is not 11.2.1, update to it and cycle your phones on and off a couple times each day thereafter (as was suggested to me by Apple Support) and hopefully that will fix the problem on your phones, too! Good Luck!

Thanks for updating us on this issue. Unfortunately, I have been on 11.2.1 for some time now and my issue (which is pretty much the same as you described) still persists. Trust me, I have cycled the phone numerous times since I updated to the latest 11.2.1

Dears,

I’ve just had an important tip to share. My kid’s iphone was having the same issue, not visiable to others in their contacts, to have Facetime. Its total coincidence that his battery was malfunctioning and i had to replace it. During replacement i discovered that the old battery was a high copy and when i replaced it with the Original one,, Voilaaa, the facetime icon appeared in his contact to others. This included his contact in my phone.

I beleive Apple is so brilliant to restrict its unique privileges to those having original Apple/IOS devices. This includes software and hardware too.