Did Apple announce plans in June 2024 to start charging a fee for using its FaceTime feature, as a post on social media claims? No, that's not true: Apple hasn't announced any plans to charge for FaceTime. It remains a free feature for all users on compatible Apple mobile devices, including versions of the iPhone, iPad Pro, iPad, iPad mini and iPad touch, as Apple customer service confirmed to Lead Stories.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on Threads by rizz.almighty on June 16, 2024. The post said:
Apple is really about to start charging us to use the FaceTime feature , wild .
This is what the post looked like on Threads at the time of writing:
(Source: Threads screenshot taken on Wed Jun 19 15:48:36 2024 UTC)
Apple
Lead Stories reached out to Apple media relations regarding the claim in the social media post and will update this story when a response is received.
Meanwhile, Lead Stories was able to get some answers during an online chat with a customer support representative on June 19, 2024. The Apple support agent told us:
There is no such update right now for the plans of charging [a] fee for FaceTime. ...
Also, there is no update for [the] same even on the Apple website.
The part of the conversation between Apple support and Lead Stories about the purported FaceTime charges appears below:
(Source: Apple Support screenshot taken on Wed Jun 19 21:57:49 2024 UTC)
Additionally, the Apple Support website (archived here) says FaceTime can be used on the following devices in these situations:
- You can use FaceTime on any of these devices on Wi-Fi: iPhone 4 or later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad 2 or later, iPad mini (all models), and iPod touch 4th generation or later (only iPod touch 5th generation or later support FaceTime audio calling).
- With a cellular data plan, you can also use FaceTime without Wi-Fi on any of these devices: iPhone 4s or later, iPad Pro (all models), and iPad (3rd generation or later).
Google search
Lead Stories searched using keywords on Google News, visible here (archived here), and found no credible documents or reporting as of June 19, 2024, to corroborate the claim that "Apple announced plans in June 2024 to start charging a fee for using FaceTime.
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At the time this was written, PolitiFact had reviewed the same claim.
