Fixing FaceTime
Q FaceTime has worked fine for me in the past, but after upgrading to Big Sur it just churns for a few seconds and fails to connect. What’s wrong with it? byJON CRAIGIE
A FaceTime has a couple of quirks which can occasionally catch users out. It relies on the time on your Mac being accurate, and your time zone correctly configured in the Date & Time pane. They’re best set automatically to ensure that they remain exact. Also, check you can log into your account at appleid.apple.com, and that your Mac is signed in properly with the Apple ID pane.
Close the FaceTime app and open Photo Booth to check your camera. If that’s OK, try using the Messages app to send a short message to the person you want to connect to using FaceTime. As the two communication systems use common technologies, Messages can be a useful indicator of underlying problems in FaceTime too.
Finally, if that hasn’t helped, quit FaceTime, restart your Mac and try it again. If it still doesn’t work, re-installing Big Sur should solve the problem.