Are you planning on FaceTiming with someone for a really long time, or just wondering if FaceTime has any sort of time limit?
Considering that FaceTime is one of the most popular video chatting tools in the world, this is a common question.
So, in this article I’ll be sharing the details with you, along with what you can do to keep your calls going as long as possible without disconnecting, or damaging your phone. For fun, I’ll also be sharing the longest FaceTime call that’s ever been done!
Does FaceTime Have A Time Limit?
No. FaceTime does not have any sort of time limit, and calls can go on indefinitely until one person disconnects the call.
That being said, there are a few issues you have to worry about for particularly long calls.
Most notably, the call may end up disconnecting by accident even if you don’t intend it to, or your iPhone can overheat if you are doing other intensive tasks on the phone, while it is plugged in.
Therefore, I’ll be going over what you can do to prevent this in just a moment.
So, Can You Safely FaceTime Overnight?
One of the most popular reasons people wish to place long FaceTime calls, is so that they can FaceTime with people overnight.
This is particularly common for people in long distance relationships, who want to feel like they are laying with and falling asleep near their significant other.
If all goes well, these calls last for 6-10 hours at a time, and the two of you are still connected in the morning when one of you wakes up.
So, is it safe?
It is, but there are a few things that you need to be aware of.
The first is battery drain. FaceTime is notorious for draining your battery, so you will likely need to ensure that you have a charger nearby, and that you leave your phone plugged in overnight.
This leads us to the second issue, which is heat.
FaceTime works your phone pretty hard, since it has to use so much at once:
- Your camera.
- Your microphone.
- Your screen, which is constantly refreshing to display the video feed.
- Your internet connection, as FaceTime is constantly uploading and downloading.
The harder your iPhone has to work, the more heat it will generate.
Likewise, charging your phone also generates heat. If your phone gets too hot, it can damage the lifespan of the battery.
So, if you do FaceTime overnight, be sure that your phone has open space, isn’t covered with blankets that may trap the heat in, and won’t be in direct sunlight when the sun rises in the morning!
Tip: Fall asleep with someone on FaceTime, and need to wake them up? Click here to learn how to wake someone up on FaceTime!
Why Your FaceTime Calls May Automatically Disconnect After A Time
Even if you intend to FaceTime for a very long time, it’s possible your call will end up disconnecting, against your best wishes.
So, why does this happen, and what can you do to prevent it?
Let’s look over some possibilities!
1. Your Internet Temporarily Disconnects
This one is perhaps the most common – and unfortunately, one that you don’t have a lot of control over.
From time to time, everybody’s internet goes out. These outages can be very brief (lasting only a few seconds), or can occur for minutes at a time.
While FaceTime will attempt to maintain the connection – even if your phone ends up switching to mobile data, long internet outages unfortunately will disconnect the call.
To help mitigate against this, sit as close to your router as possible when using Wi-Fi, and leave mobile data on for your phone to fall back to if your home internet goes out.
2. Your Battery Hits Zero
Your FaceTime call will also disconnect if one of your phones loses battery, and shuts off.
Sounds obvious, right?
But did you know that it’s possible for your phone’s battery to drain, even if it’s plugged in?
Because FaceTime uses a lot of battery, it may still end up draining faster than it can charge.
To help prevent this, avoid doing anything else on your phone while FaceTiming, turn your screen brightness down, and use a power adapter that plugs into the wall to charge your phone, rather than charging it off a computer or portable charger.
3. Your Phone Overheats
I mentioned heat being an issue a little bit ago, but your phone actually has some built-in protections to help with this.
If your phone gets too hot, it will end the FaceTime call automatically, and prevent you from using it until it cools down.
Note however that it’s possible to face battery damage before this point is reached, so it shouldn’t be relied on completely.
If your phone gets too hot overnight for example however, the call will end, and you may not even know that heat was the cause!
4. You Hit Your Mobile Data Limit
FaceTime is constantly downloading and uploading large amounts of data, so it’s possible to eat away at your data limit very quickly.
If you hit your mobile data limit, some carriers will stop providing service, or throttle your speeds to such a low point that FaceTime becomes unusable.
So, keep this in mind if planning a long call!
5. One Of You Accidentally Hangs Up
Finally, your call will obviously end if one of you accidentally hangs up.
This is a lot easier to do than it sounds (especially if you’re FaceTiming overnight while you’re sleeping), so be careful!
Fun Fact – What’s The Longest FaceTime Call Ever?
So, we now know that FaceTime calls do not have any sort of time limit, and will keep going until they are ended – either on purpose, or accidentally.
But did you know that the longest FaceTime call ever recorded was over 88 hours long?
88 hours, 53 minutes and 20 seconds in fact, which ended up being about 3.7 days long. Pretty impressive!
Of course, if you want to beat that, make sure you follow the tips mentioned above so your call doesn’t disconnect early.
Additionally, click here to learn how you can see how long you’ve been on FaceTime!
Conclusion
FaceTime does not have a time limit, and will not disconnect you after a certain period of time.
However, there are a few things that can end up disconnecting the call by accident, that you’ll want to be mindful of.
I hope that you’ve found this article helpful, and it’s answered your questions.
If you have any other questions about FaceTime, ask them below and I’ll be happy to help.
Wishing you the best,
– James McAllister