Apple’s FaceTime service has been around for years and for the most part, it has been used without incident. However in recent times, there was a report of a FaceTime bug that allowed a caller to listen in on the person they’re calling without them needing to answer the call! This is scary and worrying, but until a permanent fix has been issued, perhaps turning off FaceTime completely might be a good idea.
At this time of posting, Apple has stated that they have disabled Group FaceTime which was how the bug was exploited. We’re not sure if this bug can be replicated in one-on-one FaceTime calls, but if you’d rather be safe than sorry, here’s how you can go about turning it off.
How To Turn Off FaceTime
- Launch the Settings app
- Scroll down until you see “FaceTime” and click on it
- Tap the toggle next to “FaceTime”
- If it is no longer green that means FaceTime has been turned off
You can simply repeat the steps above if you would like to turn it back on.
How To Turn Off FaceTime On Cellular
If you have a limited data plan and don’t want FaceTime to eat into it, you can set it so that when you are not connected to WiFi, you won’t be able to make or receive FaceTime calls.
- Launch the Settings app
- Go to Mobile Data
- Scroll down and look for FaceTime
- Tap on the toggle to turn it off
Note that this does not turn off FaceTime completely, but rather you won’t be able to make or receive FaceTime video or voice calls while using cellular data, but the moment you connect to WiFi, you will be able to make and receive FaceTime calls again.
How To Turn Off FaceTime Using Screen Time
Apple introduced their new Screen Time feature with iOS 12. The idea behind the new feature is to help users or parents to block or restrict the use of certain apps or features. For parents, this might actually be a better way of disabling FaceTime because you can set a passcode on it, thus preventing your child from simply turning it back on.
- Launch the Settings app
- Go to Screen Time
- Select Content & Privacy Restrictions
- Toggle the feature on
- Go to Allowed Apps
- Tap FaceTime to toggle the feature off
If you ever decide that you want to turn FaceTime back on, simply follow all the steps we listed above to turn it back on.
Filed in . Read more about Facetime, iOS, Privacy and Security.