FaceTime & Privacy

You can register your phone number or Apple Account to make FaceTime calls. Apple retains limited information about the use of FaceTime, such as when you attempted a FaceTime call, for up to 30 days.
 

FaceTime is designed to protect your information and enable you to choose what you share.


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  • FaceTime is end-to-end encrypted. The phone number or email address you use is shown to the people you contact, and you can choose to share your name and photo.
  • Apple retains limited information about the use of FaceTime, such as when you attempted a FaceTime call, for up to 30 days.
  • FaceTime allows web users in certain regions to join FaceTime calls via the web.

FaceTime is an Apple service that makes video or audio calls to someone who’s also using an iOS, iPadOS or visionOS device or a Mac, audio calls using an Apple Watch, or through the web. These calls don’t count towards your plan minutes.

We designed FaceTime to use end-to-end encryption. We never store the content of FaceTime calls.

You can sign in to FaceTime using your Apple Account or just your phone number. If you sign in to your Apple Account on your device, you will be signed in to FaceTime automatically. Your Apple Account or phone numbers will be shown to the people you contact, and people can reach you using your Apple Account and email addresses or phone numbers on your account. You can select which phone numbers or email addresses you’d like to use for FaceTime calls in FaceTime settings. You can add and verify additional Reachable At information from your Apple Account page at account.apple.com.

SharePlay allows you to share experiences from Apple or third-party apps in FaceTime calls. Information exchanged over SharePlay is end-to-end encrypted. App developers may have access to information about your use of their apps.

FaceTime links allow users to set up a call for later, and invite participants on Windows or Android to join via the web. Web users will be required to provide a name to identify themselves and request access to a FaceTime call. Any authenticated user on the call can remove a web user within the first 30 seconds of the web user joining the call.

For FaceTime Audio and phone calls, your Contact Poster will be displayed on your incoming call screen. You can choose to automatically share your Contact Poster with just your contacts or to be prompted to share each time, and the shared data will be stored on their devices. If you share your Contact Poster with multiple people in a Group FaceTime Audio or phone conversation, your Contact Poster will be sent to all the people in that conversation. You can update your Contact Poster at any time. If you automatically share, updates will be sent when you next make a FaceTime Audio or phone call. If you have shared your Contact Poster and later turn off sharing, others who previously received your Contact Poster may still have your information on their devices. The Contact Poster you select for calls will be sent to Apple and stored on Apple’s servers encrypted in a way that Apple cannot see.

For FaceTime calls on your visionOS device, your Persona will be sent securely to all the people on the call so they can view your Persona. After a call is completed, your Persona may remain stored encrypted on the other call participants’ devices for up to 30 days. The other call participants will be able to access your Persona only when they are on a call with you.

Apple may record and store some information related to your use of FaceTime in order to operate and improve Apple’s products and services:

  • Apple may record and store information about your use of the services in a way that doesn’t identify you.
  • Apple may record and store information about FaceTime calls, such as who was invited to a call and your device’s network configurations, and store this information for up to 30 days. Apple doesn’t log whether your call was answered and can’t access the content of your calls.
  • Apple may store information sent to Apple when you or someone else reports spam or junk FaceTime calls.
  • Some apps on your device (including FaceTime) may communicate with Apple’s servers to determine whether other people can be reached by FaceTime. When this happens, Apple may store these phone numbers and email addresses associated with your account for up to 30 days.

By using these features, you agree and consent to Apple’s and its subsidiaries’ and agents’ transmission, collection, maintenance, processing and use of this information as described above.

At all times, information collected by Apple will be treated in accordance with Apple’s Privacy Policy, which can be found at www.apple.com/au/privacy

Published Date: September 20, 2024