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iOS 13.4 and macOS 10.15.4 Prevent FaceTime Calls From Working With Some Older iPhones and iPads Amid Pandemic
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My Dad was still using his 4S right up until Christmas when I got him a 6S with new battery. iPhone 4S is capped at iOS 9. I think there is a lot of misunderstanding in this forum bout how most people use their devices, but lots of people use their devices until they actually cease to do what is needed. My dad only wanted something newer because I bought them a NEST thermostat, and mom could download the app and control it on her phone, but he couldn't on his 4S with iOS 9. Other than that, the phone, email, photo's, texting, and the one freecell game he likes all still worked well enough for him.
Keep in mind that your experience may not be the same as everyone else's and these may not be the primary phones of hip, active, front-line phone warriors.
If a family gave an old phone to grandma (who doesn't internet, and mostly uses a landline at home), all preconfigured with FaceTime to talk to the grandkids, and now that phone has become more vital because everyone is on lockdown, and now that phone has stopped working (at its one defined task, because of this bug), that's a serious problem.
Now, if you want to volunteer to buy everyone's grandma a new iPhone 11 (and configure it and include some explanation of how it operates differently than the iPhone 4 they had and... handle a bunch of other support tasks), then that'd be great. If not, maybe don't look down your nose so much at people who were getting valuable use out of an old device rather than having it turned into scrap metal.
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Agreed!
The point I’m making is simple. Someone may have purchased an iPhone 4S brand new to FaceTime with. That feature was advertised in all of the marketing material. Suddenly and with out warning, the device you bought to FaceTime with no longer can FaceTime people. They (Apple) BROKE the functionality of the device.
No different than Tesla disabling super charging on a Model S you bought used with that feature advertised.
No different than GM removing the radio in a 10 year old truck.
If your elderly parents have an iPad on ios 9, SHAME ON YOUR CHEAP ASS. There are SALES on them today. NOW.
Do the right thing and have some respect for the people that made you.
Do the right thing and have some respect for the people that made you.
Easy to talk but not so easy in reality with shelter-in-place, economy having imploded, stores closed, parents/grandparents hospitalized so they can't leave and you definitely can't visit and the burden of them learning a new device with foreign finger gymnastics gestures when already under duress. Plus Facetime was working fine prior to the update so wasteful to upgrade the device when all they use it for is to Facetime their children/grandchildren.
The ethical thing for Apple to do is to unbreak it otherwise they face fines, lawsuits and negative PR for interrupting a service and for preying on seniors during a crisis. Confident Apple will end up unbreaking it.
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Apple‘s official and latest support document says:
1. You can use FaceTime on any of these devices on Wi-Fi: iPhone 4 or later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad 2 or later, iPad mini (all models), and iPod touch 4th generation or later (only iPod touch 5th generation or later support FaceTime audio calling).
2. With a cellular data plan, you can also use FaceTime without Wi-Fi on any of these devices: iPhone 4s or later, iPad Pro (all models), and iPad (3rd generation or later).
Most probably the responsible engineers are too young to know an iPhone 4S.
But come on, my 89 year old mother doesn’t want to replace that thing which she is using for facetime only.
1. You can use FaceTime on any of these devices on Wi-Fi: iPhone 4 or later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad 2 or later, iPad mini (all models), and iPod touch 4th generation or later (only iPod touch 5th generation or later support FaceTime audio calling).
2. With a cellular data plan, you can also use FaceTime without Wi-Fi on any of these devices: iPhone 4s or later, iPad Pro (all models), and iPad (3rd generation or later).
Most probably the responsible engineers are too young to know an iPhone 4S.
But come on, my 89 year old mother doesn’t want to replace that thing which she is using for facetime only.
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As such, it should either be considered as a technical accident, or a massive legal and PR SNAFU on their part. Screwing this up accidentally is already bad enough considering the current circumstances, but if they were indeed intending on just dropping FaceTime support in iOS 9.3.6, not only is the timing exceedingly cruel and the lack of advance warning callously incompetent, actively keeping outdated and inaccurate information up on their website should be grounds for a false advertisement lawsuit.
Either Engineering or Legal effed up on this one, there’s no other way around it. Expect a quick fix and/or a statement from PR soon. Apple should really do better than this, and all your apologies for mindless consumption disgust me as much as the Dutch Finance Minister’s words on the sanitary crisis.
I’m all for security, but seriously, I don’t buy the argument that Apple couldn’t at least keep FaceTime working on all heretofore supported devices at least until the end of this crisis. Apple is, after all, the richest company in the world, and if money is no object for so many entities right now, including themselves whenever there’s a massive natural or human-made disaster, surely they can get a team of engineers to cobble something up.
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This is a false statement. I know that my mother for example uses the first gen iPad Mini and refuses to upgrade. However for FaceTime she also has a iPhone 11, and MacBook air running Hi Sierra. Some parents refuse to upgrade no matter what the child says!
How amazing to read some replies here... Some people completely disconnected of the actual situation (confinement, job loss, etc...) defending a big company like this... Hoping it was a mistake from Apple and not intentional.
BTW, I have two devices I use sporadically with iOS 9: an old iPad mini and an iPod touch.
BTW, I have two devices I use sporadically with iOS 9: an old iPad mini and an iPod touch.
At a minimum, Microsoft provides 10 years of support for each version of Windows.
I think regardless of planned obsolescence, an error message would have helped. Even if it said “unknown error”. Even if it’s just an error in the side with iOS 13.4. I got hit by this and on both sides it was stuck “Connecting..” which leads to hours of needlessly troubleshooting the internet connection, rebooting routers on both ends, etc.
and responding to all the people talking about handing down older hardware to their mothers, it was the other way round for me. I bought a new iPad for my parents, and I have the old iOS 9.3 iPad. All I use it for is FaceTime. That’s it
If it was planned obsolescence, at least have some sort of bulletin about it. No notice, so I just caved and ordered a new iPad for myself. Now I have to decide if I’ll keep it.
and responding to all the people talking about handing down older hardware to their mothers, it was the other way round for me. I bought a new iPad for my parents, and I have the old iOS 9.3 iPad. All I use it for is FaceTime. That’s it
If it was planned obsolescence, at least have some sort of bulletin about it. No notice, so I just caved and ordered a new iPad for myself. Now I have to decide if I’ll keep it.
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Looks like a bug to me. If it was planned obsolescence they'd have put an alert on 13.4, something like "the remote client is no more supported...".
It came at the wrong time, as people are relying on FaceTime more than ever, so I hope they'll be able to fix it server side or patching 13.4 as soon as possible.
They could even release a path in iOS 9, but I'd rather have it on 13 as 9 is likely installed on grandparents iPads, they may not be familiar with software update etc.
I don’t know if they would “never” do anything to force obsolesence, but their track record is pretty good so far, with longest support of their mobile devices in the industry and some pretty good support overall.
Of course, some people believe the exact opposite of what I just said, because they can’t be bothered with facts. Anyway, this is most likely a mistake and I hope they fix it soon.
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I wouldn’t be defending them if I didn’t think it was a mistake. If they did it intentionally, then I agree it would be a very bad move considering the circumstances. But it’s very likely a mistake. I would be very surprised if they didn’t fix it ASAP.
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iPad 2 ... iPhone 4S ... seriously, are those really relevant today ?
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The problem is “you” let them use an iPhone 4s or ad ipad 2 on January 2020, before the pandemic, if they were using FaceTime.
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those devices should have been upgraded well before this pandemic started.
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it works.
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The problem is not NOW, when we are facing a pandemic.
The problem is “you” let them use an iPhone 4s or ad ipad 2 on January 2020, before the pandemic, if they were using FaceTime.
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Let be honest: out-of-date devices are iphone 5S / 6, or iPad Air 1st gen... we are speaking about iOS 9 devices from 2011. It is 9 years ago.
those devices should have been upgraded well before this pandemic started.
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Apple‘s official and latest support document says:
1. You can use FaceTime on any of these devices on Wi-Fi: iPhone 4 or later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad 2 or later, iPad mini (all models), and iPod touch 4th generation or later (only iPod touch 5th generation or later support FaceTime audio calling).
2. With a cellular data plan, you can also use FaceTime without Wi-Fi on any of these devices: iPhone 4s or later, iPad Pro (all models), and iPad (3rd generation or later).
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Within the same WLAN it is working, but not between two different WLAN or mobile network.
Besides that, we are talking about the latest iOS 9 version (9.3.6)
Then you aren't childing properly. If I need assistance with anything in the realm of general contracting, I ask my father because I know he knows his stuff. If they need assistance with anything technical they come to me, because they know that I know my stuff. It's actually gotten so smooth that questions aren't asked anymore. If I say my brother can't make changes to their wifi setup so he can pirate movies, changes aren't made to their wifi so he can pirate movies. I'm not having my parents on the hook for him being a thief.
Oh wow, does iPhone 4’s FaceTime actually still work on iOS 7? Not to mention, iPod Touch (4th generation) on iOS 6!
Did I anywhere say that it did? I was just saying that there's probably an innocent reason behind what happened here. I fully expect Apple to fix this.
Probably just a difference in regional use of the term accident. For me accident suggest absolves someone of distress following an action. I would have used the word negligence to hold them accountable for loss of use.
I just tested Facetime on iOS 7.1.2 (iPhone 4) with 13.4 for fun. Guess what... it also doesn't work. It does however work with 13.3.1. So they broke that as well. Obviously a related issue.
As someone mentioned above, it does work if you're on the same local network (where I'm assuming the devices talk directly to each other.) So, it's not an actual communication issue with the devices, but has to do with sending the data over the internet. It's likely an easy fix and I'm sure they will do it shortly.
As someone mentioned above, it does work if you're on the same local network (where I'm assuming the devices talk directly to each other.) So, it's not an actual communication issue with the devices, but has to do with sending the data over the internet. It's likely an easy fix and I'm sure they will do it shortly.
Hit with this bug too between a new iPad on most current iOS and father in laws old iPad 3 running iOS 9. Figured it was some kind of software incompatibility as I can call him fine from my iPhone which is a few point releases behind latest release.