How to FaceTime on Your iPhone Without Wi-Fi: Your Ultimate Tutorial

Learn how to FaceTime even if you don't have a Wi-Fi signal

Last Updated: November 23, 2023 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to use FaceTime on your iPhone or iPad when you don't have access to reliable Wi-Fi. As long as you have a mobile data plan that's 3G or better, you can use FaceTime to make video and audio calls with comparable quality to Wi-Fi. You'll just need to adjust a few settings before you begin.

Things You Should Know

Ensure your mobile data is turned on in your device's settings under "Mobile Data."
In the Mobile Data menu, scroll down to ensure FaceTime is toggled on.
Disable your Wi-Fi before using FaceTime if you want to be totally sure it only uses data.

Steps

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Open your iPhone or iPad's Settings

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. It's the gray gear icon on the home screen.
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2
Enable FaceTime if you haven't already. If you're new to FaceTime, scroll down and tap the FaceTime option (it has a green icon with a white camera inside) and make sure the switch is set to the On (green) position. If it's gray or white, tap it to turn it green.
- Tap the back button to return to the Settings menu when you're finished.
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You'll see one of these two options near the top of the Settings menu in the first group of options. ^{[1]
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Slide the "Cellular Data" or "Mobile Data" switch to the On position

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. If the switch was already green, simply skip to the next step.
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Scroll down and slide the "FaceTime" switch to the On position

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. If FaceTime's switch is already green, there's no need to make any changes. If it's gray or white, tap it to turn it green.
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If you aren't near a Wi-Fi access point, you can skip this step. But if your phone or tablet keeps trying to connect to weak Wi-Fi networks, you'll want to turn off Wi-Fi so it doesn't interfere with FaceTime calls. To do this, go to the Home screen and swipe up (iPhone 8 and earlier) or swipe down from the top-right corner (iPhone X and later). Then, then tap the Wi-Fi icon to toggle it off.
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7
Place or answer a FaceTime call. Now that you've set up FaceTime to work with your mobile data plan, you can use it to make video and audio calls on your iPhone or iPad.
- Since FaceTime calls can use a lot of data, try saving your FaceTime calls for Wi-Fi unless you have an unlimited data plan.
- To see how much data a FaceTime call used, open the FaceTime app, tap the small "'" in a circle beside the call," and find the data amount next to the call time (e.g., 1028 KB).

Community Q&A

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How do I download cydia?

Community Answer

This can get kind of complicated. You usually need to jailbreak your iPhone, and this requires special software and steps. You can probably find a tutorial on the internet.

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How to FaceTime on Your iPhone Without Wi-Fi: Your Ultimate Tutorial

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