FaceTime Video

How to enable or disable Live Photos during FaceTime calls

FaceTime Disabled Live Photo iPhone

Our devices give us plenty of ways to capture precious moments. From taking photos to recording videos, we can easily save seconds or minutes to cherish later. And if you find yourself using FaceTime even more than before, you may want to save snapshots of those calls.

One way is to record FaceTime calls on your iPhone and Mac. But if you don’t want to record an entire lengthy call yet capture a moment or two, you can snag Live Photos instead. This tutorial shows you how to start as well as stop Live Photos from being captured during your FaceTime calls on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

AutoAnswer X brings advanced automatic call-taking features to jailbroken iOS 11 handsets

incoming call

Depending on how often you take FaceTime or Phone calls on your iPhone, you might find it handy to have your handset automatically accept incoming calls from specific people under specific circumstances.

You can configure your iPhone to answer phone calls automatically if you have iOS 11, but a jailbreak tweak called AutoAnswer X (iOS 11) by iOS developer Elias Limneos provides a better long-term solution with more features and configuration than you could ever dream of receiving in an official iOS update from Apple.

SelfieTime makes you look like a champ in selfie photographs and FaceTime Video chats

Although some people have no problem with snapping selfies and carrying out FaceTime Video calls with their friends or colleagues, some people simply aren't happy with the way they look and are more self-conscious about how folks will judge their character.

SelfieTime is a new jailbreak tweak by veteran iOS developer Elias Limneos that can help people of the latter group look better for their selfies and feel more confident during FaceTime Video calls.

Have iPhone automatically answer incoming calls on your behalf

Many iOS 11 features seemed to be inspired by the jailbreak community. Among them, a brand new call audio routing option in accessibility settings that allows you to set your iPhone to automatically answer incoming calls on your behalf, should you wish so.

This optional feature supports regular calls via your carrier's mobile network, as well as Wi-Fi calls, FaceTime audio and video calls and any VoIP calls originating from third-party apps that use Apple's CallKit framework, such as WhatsApp, Skype, Viber and more.

To enable this feature, go to Settings → Accessibility → Touch → Call Audio Routing.

There, you'll see the call routing options which include settings like Bluetooth headsets, the iPhone speaker and more. These options are also available on prior iOS editions. But look at the bottom and you'll see a brand new menu, labeled Auto-Answer Calls.

Tapping it takes you to a new screen where you can enable or disable the feature and set the duration of time your iPhone will wait when a call comes in before it's auto-answered for you.

This handy new option, as I already mentioned, is nowhere to be found in iOS 10 or earlier.

I can see myself using Auto-Answer Calls a lot, not just while jogging with my AirPods or working out with my PowerBeats in my ears but also in other situations when interacting with the phone may be impractical, like driving a car or swimming with my Apple Watch on.

How do you like this nifty feature? Will you be using this auto-answer call setting, and why?

Do let us know by posting a comment below!

TUTORIAL: How to set your iPhone to automatically answer calls

When is Apple going to pay FaceTime the attention it deserves?

The other day I overheard a woman at the coffee shop spiritedly conversing on FaceTime with what I can only presume was her mother. The topic of discussion had been the daughter’s holiday trip, and her mom said something that struck a chord with me: why can’t you show me the photos on here? This got me thinking (at which point I stopped listening in, promised). Since its inception, FaceTime has received dreadfully little attention from Apple. The introduction of FaceTime Audio aside, the service practically makes for an absolute freeze-up in an otherwise constantly forward moving software environment.

As consumers, we have become used to companies spending more resources and time on pet projects of theirs and conversely less on comparably idle services, but what is astonishing is that this analogy does not explain the ongoing neglect of FaceTime. Because for all its faults and plainness, FaceTime is tremendously popular. For reasons only known to the Cupertino giant however, it does barely show in the application’s development. To add insult to injury, the lackluster state is likely to persist for yet another year until the next big software update for iOS rolls in. Never mind the fact this means forever in industry years, but it’s even worse because FaceTime is already adrift of the competition.

With that said, it is time for Apple to start play catch-up and resuscitate the service. Since the coffee shop encounter, I have been mulling over how Apple could ramp up the offering realistically in the near future. Here is what I believe is feasible and crucial for FaceTime to implement within the next year:

What to do if you can’t make or receive FaceTime calls iPhone or iPad

Have you ever received one of those annoying messages that basically tells you FaceTime is having problems on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad? They can be incredibly annoying, but usually they're easy problems to fix.

In this piece, we'll talk about why you might be getting FaceTime errors on your iOS device and walk you through some ways to correct the problem.