How to check your iPhone's data usage for each FaceTime video or audio call

Apple's FaceTime is the feature that made video calling popular, despite that this ability has been present on phones since the early days of Nokia's ascent to power. Video chatting with friends is now as much a part of popular culture thanks to it as is snapping selfies and posting them on, say, Instagram with your favorite filter.With the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple introduced a better front-facing camera, and a new codec. As it turns out, Apple is leading the way on the Apple iPhone 6 and Apple iPhone 6 Plus, with the use of H.265 for coding and decoding of FaceTime over Cellular video. The phones also support the older H.264 codec. The advantage to using the new codec is that it requires half the bit rate that H.264 needs, to offer the same quality videos. First released as a draft standard by the Motion Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) in 2012, H.265 has yet to become widely used on consumer devices. It is speculated that the Apple A8 SoC could contain a specialized encoder/decoder module.

If you want to check precisely how much data your FaceTime video or audio session has consumed on your iPhone, you can do that pretty easily with iOS 8. Instead of keeping a tab on the general data consumption from the phone's settings, you need to use FaceTime itself:

1. Start the FaceTime app, and tap on the Video or Audio buttons at the top, you will see a list of calls with their date stamp;

2. On the right of each call there will be a small circle denoted with "i" inside;

3. Tap on this circle, and the information exactly how much data this precise call has consumed will be displayed, together with the time stamp. This way you can have an idea how much a 15-minute video call on the go with Verizon's network usually amounts to, and plan accordingly.

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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.

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