How does Facetime work?

Whether Mac, iPhone or iPad - Apple makes free video calls possible with "FaceTime". We have summarized how this works and what you need to consider here.

1. Register and off you go

• In order for your friends to be able to reach you, you have to call up the "FaceTime" app on the iPad and iPhone in the "Settings" and enter your Apple ID as well as the telephone number and email addresses under which you want to be reachable on FaceTime.
• You can read about how this works in detail in this practical tip. There we also explain how to set up FaceTime on Mac in just a few steps.

2. How to start a FaceTime call

• The app automatically accesses your contacts - both on the iPhone and on the iPad.
• Therefore, after opening FaceTime, you can either enter a name in the search field or choose a friend from the alphabetically sorted list.
• If you select a name, all contact and address entries will be displayed: If available, this ranges from email address, telephone and mobile number to street name and house number.
• Then start the video chat with a touch of the mobile phone number or the e-mail address.
• You can also call up the contact in the address book and then simply touch the "FaceTime" button - a connection is established. Of course, Siri will help you further: "Face-Time with mother".

3. FaceTime: The restrictions

Free video calls are actually a great thing - but there are a few small snags here:

• To establish a FaceTime connection with someone, both people must have either an iPad, iPhone, Mac or iPod.
• But this is not already possible with every device. With these versions it works: iPhone 4 or newer; iPad 2 or newer (also iPad mini); iPod touch (4th generation) or newer; Mac with Mac OS X 10.6.6 or newer (also Mac OS X Lion or newer)
• You can use FaceTime not only via WiFi, but also via a mobile data connection. However, this only works from the iPhone 4S, the iPad from the 3rd generation with Cellular and the iPad mini with Cellular. You need at least a good 3G connection when you are mobile, since the transmission is very data-intensive. Therefore, you should also keep an eye on the volume limits of your mobile phone tariff.

4. The best FaceTime tips

• The iPhone, iPad and iPod touch each have two cameras: one is above the display on the front and a second on the back. The camera on the front is optimized for FaceTime - however, you can switch camera views during the FaceTime call.
• The camera on the back has a much better resolution. So you can easily show your FaceTime participant what you are seeing. In the test, the function turned out to be extremely useful, for example, on phone calls from vacation: make your friends jealous with fantastic impressions of the beach or the Alps ...
• The favorites function is useful for regular video calls: it saves you from having to search for participants.

Download and alternatives

• Mac users can download the current FaceTime version here. FaceTime is already installed on the iOS devices.
• A good alternative is free Skype. This is available for Windows as well as for Mac and iOS. With Skype, group chats and landline calls (chargeable) are possible.

For an optimal call quality with FaceTime and Skype you should pay attention to a stable WLAN connection or in a very good 3G network. Running many other apps in the background can degrade the quality of the connection.