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[iOS 12.1.4] Group FaceTime still not available?

chris4565

chris4565

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 22, 2018
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Hi,

I upgraded to iOS 12.1.4 yesterday and am a bit surprised that the button to add more people when doing a FaceTime call is grayed out. I thought Group FaceTime was supposed to be fixed in this update. Anyone else having trouble with this?

Many greets
Chris
 
Yes, I think every person in the group needs this update but the problem is that iOS doesn’t even let me touch the button to invite more people because it is grayed out :(

Edit: I tried the same thing on another device from my family and there it also didn’t work.
 
The question is: has everybody else updated, yes or not?

Maybe iOS can detect if the other person is eligible to receive a grouped call. You know, just like when you add a phone number to your contacts it shows the FaceTime icon after a few seconds, which means the system is able to detect if the other person have or have not the feature.
 
Yes, the other people that I wanted to test this with have also updated but I don’t even come so far to choose another contact to add. Because normally you click on the plus symbol and then choose a contact but when I click on the plus symbol nothing happens.
 
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chris4565 said:
Yes, the other people that I wanted to test this with have also updated but I don’t even come so far to choose another contact to add. Because normally you click on the plus symbol and then choose a contact but when I click on the plus symbol nothing happens.
Click to expand...

Well, has I said (and it's just a theory of my own), maybe nobody else in your contact list has updated to 12.1.4 so iOS wont let you pick anybody...
 
Did a bit further experimentation. It's completely bugged o_O I can add multiple participants if I'm in the FaceTime app and add them from the beginning. Thanks to g000 for mentioning this in another thread. I just can't add anyone once the FaceTime call is already placed.
 
Maybe Group FaceTime won’t work if one of the devices linked to an Apple ID is still on an older firmware including macOS.
 
SoYoung said:
Maybe Group FaceTime won’t work if one of the devices linked to an Apple ID is still on an older firmware including macOS.
Click to expand...
All devices are updated. It also works when I set up the Group FaceTime call with multiple participants from the beginning. I just can’t add anyone after that. Hopefully this will be patched in iOS 12.2
 
chris4565 said:
Did a bit further experimentation. It's completely bugged o_O I can add multiple participants if I'm in the FaceTime app and add them from the beginning. Thanks to g000 for mentioning this in another thread. I just can't add anyone once the FaceTime call is already placed.
Click to expand...
Certainly removes the spontaneity of group facetime to have a restriction like that. Maybe this restriction will be addressed in an upcoming beta.
 
I noticed the same restriction with 12.1.4: you can only make a group FaceTime call if you initiate it as a group call from the beginning. Then you can go on and further add more people.

However, if you are on a 1-to-1 FaceTime call, the option to add more people is greyed out (you can't even tap on "Add another person" to get to the point of choosing the contact, so it's not relevant if the additional participants have updated their iPhones or not).

I hope they will remove this limitation in a future iOS release. As it is now, it doesn't even make sense for the option to even be there and greyed out. They should write something more explanatory.
 
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Just got off the phone with a "Senior Advisor" at Apple.

He said that the "Add Person" button not working is a known issue. They don't know when it'll be fixed.

I had tried a three-person group call, and we all had the same issue with "Add Person" not working. (One was on an iPad Pro (iOS 12.1.4) purchased last year, the other on a 2013 MacBook Pro with 13" Retina display (10.14.3).

I tried calling both at once, and it worked after three or four attempts, but was very buggy.

Before they had the SA call me, I text chatted with three lower-level people via Apple Support. The first one said to reset my iPad. I didn't want to do that, and nobody else suggested it.

I started another support chat; that guy transferred me to a higher-level tech, and she finally had the SA call me.

Apparently none of the lower-level people were aware that this is a known issue, so Apple just wasted a lot of my time.
 
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Yup, I’m also quite puzzled that this fundamental function isn’t working. Hopefully this will be fixed in the next update.
 
No one should be using FaceTime at all for any reason after this. Are you nuts? It’s like using the Palantir in Lord of the Rings “we do not know who else may be watching” lol seriously though use an encrypted video app that is better-trusted now that we’ve seen what this system can do.
 
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Bawstun said:
No one should be using FaceTime at all for any reason after this. Are you nuts? It’s like using the Palantir in Lord of the Rings “we do not know who else may be watching” lol sereiously though use an encrypted video app that is better-trusted now that we’ve seen what this system can do.
Click to expand...
By that measure we shouldn't really be using anything at all based on technology given that pretty much anything out there has had some issues, including tons of CPUs at the heart of many many computers, servers, etc. that power many many things.
 
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Bob-K said:
Thanks, but I feel like a beta tester. Which doesn't seem right, given Apple's size and resources, and the fact that this isn't a beta release! :mad:
Click to expand...

It would be a glorious world if beta testing caught all the bugs. Unfortunately, some slip through, regardless of the size of the company's bank account or head count.

While you might feel like a beta tester, getting all the right information passed on to the correct people makes a huge difference. I've been on the other end and have received bug reports that are so vague, they're completely useless and just get tossed out. Every time you get sent on to the next level of support increases the odds that you're being taken seriously. At least it seems like an issue they care about.
 
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