Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iOS 13.4 and macOS 10.15.4 Prevent FaceTime Calls From Working With Some Older iPhones and iPads Amid Pandemic

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,774
31,233


Newer devices running Apple's recently released iOS 13.4 and macOS 10.15.4 software updates are currently unable to make FaceTime audio and video calls with older devices running iOS 9.3.5 or iOS 9.3.6, according to numerous users across the Apple Support Communities, MacRumors Forums, Reddit, and Twitter.

facetimeiphoneipad.jpg

Apple normally recommends that users who cannot make or receive FaceTime calls update their devices to the latest software version, but iOS 9.3.5 or iOS 9.3.6 are the last supported software versions for several older devices, including the iPad 2, third-generation iPad, iPhone 4S, the first-generation iPad mini, and the fifth-generation iPod touch.

Devices running iOS 13.3.1 or macOS 10.15.3 can still make FaceTime calls with older devices, so it is unclear if this is a bug introduced with iOS 13.4 and macOS Catalina 10.15.4 or if this was an intentional decision. Apple did not immediately respond to our request for comment, but we will update this story if we hear back.

In any case, the timing of this is unfortunate due to the ongoing pandemic. Many affected users have mentioned being unable to reach a grandparent who still uses an older iPad, for example, during a time when social distancing is strongly recommended.

Hopefully this proves to be a simple bug that is resolved in short order.



Article Link: iOS 13.4 and macOS 10.15.4 Prevent FaceTime Calls From Working With Some Older iPhones and iPads Amid Pandemic
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/04/01/ios-9-facetime-issue/
Last edited:
M

martyjmclean

Cancelled
Jan 24, 2018
712
2,557
I like Apple's products as much as the next guy on here, but **** are they a disgusting company...
Planned obsolesce and removal of features because "we want you to buy new hardware during a pandemic" should be grounds for a lawsuit.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Like
  • Haha
  • Disagree
Reactions: Shirasaki, aylk, timborama and 6 others
chrono1081

chrono1081

macrumors G3
Jan 26, 2008
8,471
4,323
Isla Nublar
martyjmclean said:
I like Apple's products as much as the next guy on here, but **** are they a disgusting company...
Planned obsolesce and removal of features because "we want you to buy new hardware during a pandemic" should be grounds for a lawsuit.
Click to expand...

Spoken exactly like someone who doesn't understand software development. "Planned Obsolence" is largely a conspiracy theory, nothing more. When you add new features and functionally and security fixes some older hardware has to be left behind, you can't support the old stuff forever and those older models are pretty old.

This isn't "Apple wants you to buy new hardware during the pandemic!" frankly, its sad that's the first place you went. Reality is closer to "a change was made for <bug fix, security, etc> and either broke something by accident, or simply isn't compatible with older hardware.

Nothing more.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Disagree
  • Love
Reactions: Shirasaki, aylk, djpalmer93 and 30 others
lpuerto

lpuerto

macrumors regular
Mar 4, 2014
143
36
Europe
chrono1081 said:
Spoken exactly like someone who doesn't understand software development. "Planned Obsolense" is largely a conspiracy theory, nothing more. When you add new features and functionally and security fixes some older hardware has to be left behind, you can't support the old stuff forever and those older models are pretty old.

This isn't "Apple wants you to buy new hardware during the pandemic!" frankly, its sad that's the first place you went. Reality is closer to "a change was made for <bug fix, security, etc> and either broke something by accident, or simply isn't compatible with older hardware.

Nothing more.
Click to expand...
I think that planned obsolescence is just a conspiracy theory. But if they are going to make such a big move, they should announce on their release notes —at the very least— and this kind of things it should wait for a major version update. Right now I can't talk to my mom that is on confinement in Spain, lucky my wife hasn't update her devices and we can still call my mom, but WTF!
 
  • Like
Reactions: iShater, Shirasaki, aylk and 4 others
K

koil

macrumors regular
Dec 3, 2019
247
611
chrono1081 said:
Spoken exactly like someone who doesn't understand software development. "Planned Obsolense" is largely a conspiracy theory, nothing more. When you add new features and functionally and security fixes some older hardware has to be left behind, you can't support the old stuff forever and those older models are pretty old.

This isn't "Apple wants you to buy new hardware during the pandemic!" frankly, its sad that's the first place you went. Reality is closer to "a change was made for <bug fix, security, etc> and either broke something by accident, or simply isn't compatible with older hardware.

Nothing more.
Click to expand...
Yep, and this particular issue screams "accident" to me, nothing in the release notes for iOS 13.4 even mention changes that might have an impact on the FaceTime protocol, in fact, FaceTime is not mentioned in them at all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: aylk, Tubamajuba, Deelron and 3 others
G

gnomeisland

macrumors 65816
Jul 30, 2008
1,094
829
New York, NY
Hodar1 said:
Having spent decades working in R&D, Legacy testing was one of the first checks we performed. If we got new features, that was great - but if we couldn't support Legacy; it was a no-go.
Click to expand...
All of the affected devices are clearly in Apple's publicly listed "vintage" category. It is unclear if they would consider them legacy at this point and even test them. Is there any consumer tech company supporting devices that old?

I do agree that the change in unfortunate and poorly timed but I doubt it was intentional. As one person pointed out, it is likely an updated encryption scheme the older devices don't or can't support.
 
  • Like
Reactions: vmistery, Flow39 and DblHelix
D

dvanwinkle

macrumors regular
Feb 9, 2009
139
422
Ohio
It never ceases to amaze me that people on here whine like no other when something like this happens.

It's possible that Apple needed to update a security protocol on their devices to prevent calls being hijacked or intercepted. Is it sad that people can't connect to their family? Certainly. Would there be a much bigger issue if security or privacy were put at risk? Most Likely.

Apple should allow people to roll back to the previous version of iPadOS/iOS at the most. The rest of us who are on software newer than 4.5 years old can continue life as normal.

This is NOT planned obsolescence though. Do you guys REALLY think Apple sits around thinking how they can disable everyones old devices? No, they sit around thinking of how they can improve peoples devices, and sometimes that means they have to discontinue support for older devices.

For what it's worth, my old iPhone 3g can still connect to the App Store and download the old versions of apps that developers no longer support. But I don't EXPECT it to work with the latest apps, let alone the features of the old apps.

/rant
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: chris1958, AaronM5670, Flow39 and 5 others
B

Brian Y

macrumors 68040
Oct 21, 2012
3,776
1,064
feldpos said:
Inconvenient timing but I guarantee it's a change in required encryption due to a security issue found in FaceTime and the older devices don't support e.g., TLS 1.3.
Click to expand...

It's weird. Supported TLS versions don't align with these reports. iOS 9 supports TLS 1.2, and only iOS 12 (point something)+ supports TLS 1.3.

My best guess is that, since these devices are considered vintage, they are excluded from any compatibility testing, and thus this is unintentional. I'd bet Apple fix it though, given the current situation.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Flow39, Jxdawg, Plutonius and 1 other person
J

jarman92

macrumors 65816
Nov 13, 2014
1,491
4,647
martyjmclean said:
I like Apple's products as much as the next guy on here, but **** are they a disgusting company...
Planned obsolesce and removal of features because "we want you to buy new hardware during a pandemic" should be grounds for a lawsuit.
Click to expand...

Or it's, you know, a bug. But sure, immediately jump to the most cynical explanation imaginable. And ignore all evidence to the contrary, like that these Apple devices are so well-made and supported that they're currently running fine 8+ years later.

Seems reasonable.
[automerge]1585750292[/automerge]
lpuerto said:
To the people that keeps saying that is an old OS… Yeah… but add features it's OK, remove them isn't OK. And remember, all those devices still have an app called facetime. Not FaceTime 1, or 2, or 4. Just FaceTime.
Click to expand...

Maybe...but if it's a security issue as some are suggesting, Apple cannot and should not compromise security and/or privacy to cater to the lowest common denominator.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Stephen.R, Flow39, imnotthewalrus and 2 others
gsapienza

gsapienza

macrumors member
Jul 4, 2009
31
47
martyjmclean said:
I like Apple's products as much as the next guy on here, but **** are they a disgusting company...
Planned obsolesce and removal of features because "we want you to buy new hardware during a pandemic" should be grounds for a lawsuit.
Click to expand...
I shouldn't even be giving you the time of day. but wow this is a dumb take. Theres a thing called BUGS that appear in new releases. Not everything has bad intent
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Like
Reactions: Tubamajuba, Flow39, imnotthewalrus and 2 others
JosephAW

JosephAW

macrumors 603
May 14, 2012
5,991
7,948
Apple will call this a feature.

This is why releasing a new iOS version every year is wearing on us.
It would have been better to wait two or three years for a major version change. We should be on iOS 10.9.4 with all the bells and whistles and an unified iOS version installed of all devices.
 
  • Like
Reactions: icerabbit
J

jicon

macrumors 6502a
Nov 29, 2004
800
619
Toronto, ON
I don't do facetime all that often, but I noticed it didn't work on the 13.4 public betas. He was trying to reach me I assume running iOS12 or iOS13 on two different devices he used (iPad Air and iPhone 7). Call would fail with audio or audio/video. Presumed something in 13.4 changed?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom