Facetime Troubleshooting – The Complete Guide

If you happen to own an Iphone and still struggle to use facetime this guide might come in handy. From my experience in fixing facetime problems I put together a list of all possible barriers I came across. So stand back and fasten your seatbelt. I hope this might help someone. If you find other things to be relevant which should be included in this list, leave a comment.

Facetime button or function not available at all (no camera-image during calls)

PROBLEM: Facetime function not yet activated.
SOLUTION: Go to Settings - Phone activate Facetime and wait, sometimes it needs hours or days to finish activation (it waits on a verification message from the UK)
PROBLEM: Facetime activation still pending after along period of time.
SOLUTION: Make sure you can send and receive short messages (SMS).
(This hint is not as stupid as you might think: If you just got multi-SIM from your carrier to have both a micro SIM and a regular SIM, then you have to activate one of them to be the one to receive short messages)
PROBLEM: Facetime does not work or is not available after jailbreakme 2.0 jailbreak.
SOLUTION: This is a known issue with jailbreakme 2.0, there is a fix available. Open Cydia. Go to changes tab and hit refresh. There you’ll find an update available for Base Structure. Install it. Reset Network Settings: Settings – General – Reset – Reset Network Settings, or alternatively try this.

Facetime button or function is available but facetime cannot connect

PROBLEM: Facetime fails with message claiming you need to be on WIFI.
SOLUTION: Pretty self explanatory, you need to have access to WIFI to use Facetime (or use My3G if using a Jailbreak)
PROBLEM: You can only connect in one direction from one device to another and NOT vice versa
SOLUTION: It has been reported, that lacking or false network information can also cause this problem. Make sure you have the correct data stored in Settings – General – Network – Mobile Data Network and that you have the Mobile Data option (possibly 3G too for initialisation) enabled.
PROBLEM: You can only connect in one direction from one device to another and NOT vice versa
SOLUTION: If using a jailbreak, DO NOT change your carrier logo with “Make It Mine” (MIM) this can cause problems with Facetime. If you did, set carrier logo to empty and respring to restore original carrier logo.
PROBLEM: Connection attempt fails with message “Not available”.
SOLUTION: Own or peer phone number is not set in Settings – General – Phone or not set in correct format like: “+CC XX 1234567″ [CC: Country Code; XX: State Code without a leading zero; no apostrophes]
PROBLEM: Connection attempt fails with message “Not available”.
SOLUTION: If a Facetime call is made to an email adress, this adress must be connected to an according itunes account and it must e verified first.
PROBLEM: Connection attempt fails with message “Not available”.
SOLUTION: Make sure you or your peer have verified any emails from apple regarding the use of emails for Facetime.