Have you ever tried calling someone on Facetime and wondered why they are not picking up your call?
Well, there can be many reasons. The user you are trying to call might have put their phone on silent or switched it off. They may also be busy with a different user on Facetime.
But can you find out if the person you are trying to call is busy with someone else on Facetime?
This is what we will try to find out in this post.
Find answers to your questions topped up with other important details.
Can you check if someone is busy on Facetime call
Quick Answer: No, it is hard to tell if someone is busy on a Facetime call with another user or chose not to attend the call. As Facetime doesn’t show any specific indicator about a busy call.
Unlike Facetime calls, phone calls made through mobile carriers indicate user if the receiver is on another call with a different contact.
Facetime generally shows the same prompt – ‘Unavailable’ – on the caller’s screen when a call doesn’t connect for some reason.
And again, it is very hard to tell why you are getting ‘Unavailable’ while calling someone. There can be multiple scenarios of why this happens. We discussed 8 possible reasons in our previous post. Be sure to check all of them.
How to know if someone is Busy on Facetime call
Since there are no specific ways to check if someone is busy on a Facetime call, we will discuss some of the methods which suggest that the user is busy on another call.
We suggest you never reach a conclusion just by using the methods we are about to discuss. We regret to say this, but we didn’t fine any method that tells you for sure about a Facetime call status.
1. Check the user’s iMessage chat
When you call a user who is actually busy with someone else on Facetime, they get some options on their screen. They can either decline your call or accept it.
They can also choose to message you on iMessage before declining the call.
So, the best way will be to check if they have informed you about being busy on a different call on iMessage or any other messenger app. But chances of getting the information on iMessage are higher as the user has the iMessage icon handy.
2. Call declines before 11 rings
How many rings do you hear before the Facetime call cuts itself? Have you ever wondered? The answer is 11.
When you call someone on Facetime, 11 rings/ chimes can be heard before the call session is terminated by itself.
The theory is when someone is busy on a different Facetime call; they won’t wait for the 11 rings to complete, as the receiver’s screen kind of jams when they get a different call.
So, they can only decline the Facetime call or wait for the 11 rings to complete.
But, they will be able to continue the video chat with the other person once the 11 rings are complete. So, the probability of them continuing the video call after declining yours is high.
So, if your call declines before 11 rings, it might mean that they are busy on a different Facetime call or had to decline it for some other reason.
3. Ask them if they are busy
The best way, in our opinion, would be to ask the user directly if they are busy on a call and can’t pick up yours. Any other method discussed here will never be a solid signal to determine if someone is engaged on a different call.
Other blogs and sources have mentioned different methods, but we have tried all of them and tested every scenario and method that one can think of. But the results are the same.
Facetime doesn’t tell you if the user you are trying to reach is on a Facetime call with someone else.
Conclusion
iPhone makes it hard to determine if a user is busy on a different call. And always shows the ‘Unavailable’ status when a Facetime call fails to connect.
But, in this post, we tried finding some signals which help you determine the correct status of a call.
Ankit is an engineer by profession and blogger by passion. He is passionate to do all the stuff such as designing the website, doing the SEO, researching for the content, writing tech blog posts and more.
