Amid lockdown, Apple's update kills FaceTime on some iPhones
As governments around the world continue to enforce lockdowns to fight COVID-19, more and more people are switching to video calling to stay in touch with their friends/family/colleagues. The shift has significantly spiked the usage of FaceTime, but going by fresh reports, the Apple-built product has stopped working on some iPhone models in this hour of need. Here's all about it.
Problems from new update for iPhones, iPads
A few days back, Apple released iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4 update for iPhones and iPads. The incremental release brought some new features, but soon after its roll-out, people began reporting instances of failed FaceTime audio-video calls. They claimed that the call only kept 'connecting' when they tried calling those with older models of iPhones and iPads.
Issue with devices running iOS 9.3.5, iOS 9.3.6
The video calling glitch surfaced only when iOS 13.4 users tried to call those with iOS 9.3.5 or iOS 9.3.6. The platforms are dated but that's the newest available iterations for a number of Apple devices, including the iPod touch (5th generation), iPad mini (1st generation), iPhone 4S, iPad (3rd generation), and iPad 2. So, basically, the error prevented FaceTime with these specific devices.
Users away from families took to Twitter to complain
As the issue began surfacing, iOS 13.4 users took to Twitter to note how annoying not being able to call people with older versions really is. A number of them claimed that the glitch is keeping them from FaceTiming their parents/grandparents, who are currently under lockdown due to the spread of the novel coronavirus disease.
Here's one of the many complaints
No word from Apple on the matter
So far, Apple has not commented on the matter, leaving questions over whether this is a bug or an intentional product change due to some reason. If it's a bug, we might get a fix in the near future, but if that's not the case, it would be a really surprising move from Apple, especially considering how much we need video calls these days.
