Video Calling with FaceTime

One of the most welcome features in the iPhone is a front-mounted camera, which means you can take pictures of yourself without guessing where the shutter button is! Fortunately, that’s not all the front camera is good for. With the FaceTime app, you can use your iPhone to make video calls where you can actually see the other person face to face. It’s an awesome feature, but to use it, the other person must be using an iPhone 4 or later, an iPad 2 or later, a fourth-generation (or later) iPod touch, or a Mac with a video camera and the FaceTime application installed.

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In previous versions of iOS, both of you also needed to be on a Wi-Fi connection. That restriction has been dropped in iOS 6, and you can now conduct FaceTime calls over a cellular connection. However, you need to turn on this feature. Tap Settings, tap FaceTime, and then tap the Use Cellular Data switch to On. Note, as well, that some providers restrict cellular FaceTime calls to certain data plans. For example, as I write this AT&T only allows FaceTime calls over cellular connections if you’re subscribed to one of its Mobile Share data plans.

The good news about FaceTime (besides how cool it is), is that it’s a complete no-brainer to use. You don’t have to activate any options, configure any settings, download any software, or connect to any servers.

Initiating a FaceTime call

To initiate ...

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