New in iOS 6: Call History Shows Data Usage For FaceTime Calls

As you probably know by now, iOS 6 will finally allow users to make FaceTime video calls over cellular network 1.

Analysts estimate that FaceTime calls could use about 1.5 MB to 7.5 MB per minute, which translates into 11 hours of talk time from one gigabyte of data use at the lowest rate and about two hours and 15 minutes at the highest rate.

One of the concerns has been that, in iOS 5.1.1 - there is currently no way to figure out exactly how much data a FaceTime call has used. You probably never bothered about it as it was over Wi-Fi network.

If you're worried that FaceTime over cellular network will eat into your capped data limit, then the good news is that you will be able to find out the data usage for FaceTime calls in call history in iOS 6.

In iOS 6, when you tap on a Contact in Recent Calls tab for more info, it shows the data usage along with the time of the call and call duration (as you can see in the screenshot below).

We've been told that the data usage is shown for FaceTime calls over 3G as well as over Wi-Fi. It would have been ideal if the data usage was shown only for FaceTime calls over 3G.

Here's a screenshot of the caller history in iOS 5.1.1:

and the screenshot of the caller history in iOS 6 beta 4:

We're not sure if this was available since the first beta version of iOS 6, but since we've come across this minor (and probably obvious) change for the first time, we thought of sharing it. It should be useful to some extent in keeping tabs on the data usage while making FaceTime calls.

Apple is expected to release iOS 6 couple of days before the next generation iPhone launch. Apple is widely expected to unveil the next generation iPhone on September 12, followed by the release on September 21.

Thanks Ethan for the tip!

1. AT&T has announced that FaceTime over its cellular network will be available only to customers who switch to Mobile Share data plans, so it may still depend on carriers to offer the feature.