Here's how to disable FaceTime on your iPhone, iPad or Mac

A nasty bug means it's worth keeping the feature off.
By Johnny Lieu  on 
Here's how to disable FaceTime on your iPhone, iPad or Mac
A nasty FaceTime bug means it's worth keeping the feature off. Credit: Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images

A nasty bug which lets you hear and see someone at the end of a FaceTime call -- without them answering -- has been pretty concerning.

While Apple has said it will be rolling out a fix to the issue later this week, you'll want to disable the feature for the time being.

This means you'll need to switch FaceTime off on each Apple device you own. Turning it off on one device (even though you may be logged in to these devices with the same Apple ID) doesn't automatically do the same for other devices.

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Fortunately, it's pretty simple to turn the feature off on iPhone, iPad or Mac.

How to turn off FaceTime on your iPhone or iPad

Mashable Image
FaceTime turned off on iOS. Credit: Mashable screenshot
  1. Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad

  2. Search for the FaceTime option, or scroll to the option, and select the icon

  3. Switch the FaceTime toggle to off

How to turn off FaceTime on your Mac

Mashable Image
Credit: Mashable screenshot
  1. Open the FaceTime application on your Mac

  2. Select "FaceTime" in the menu bar

  3. Then select "Turn FaceTime Off"

You can also choose to sign out of FaceTime completely on your Mac, as follows:

  1. Open the FaceTime application on your Mac

  2. Select "FaceTime" in the menu bar

  3. Then select "Preferences"

  4. Click "Sign Out"

You should be good to go from there – be wary of any FaceTime requests from unknown callers, of course.

UPDATE: Jan. 29, 2019, 3:07 p.m. AEDT Apple has listed Group FaceTime, the source of the bug, as temporarily unavailable on its System Status page.

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Johnny Lieu

Mashable Australia's Web Culture Reporter.Reach out to me on Twitter at @Johnny_Lieu or via email at jlieu [at] mashable.com


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