How to Disable FaceTime Reaction Gestures on Mac, iPhone, & iPad

Don’t want to have certain gestures trigger FaceTime Reactions? Don’t want an on-screen emoji to appear when you give a thumbs up to the camera, or maybe you don’t want a peace sign made with your hands to trigger a bunch of balloons appearing on your video chat? Then you can turn the FaceTime Reactions feature off, right on your iPhone, Mac, or iPad.

While some users really enjoy the FaceTime Reaction Gestures, there’s also certainly no shortage of criticism about the feature from users who do not want to either accidentally trigger the reactions, or use the gestures to send reaction effects into FaceTime video chats, Zoom calls, and other video chat methods on the iPhone, Mac, and iPad.

If you were looking for a way to turn off FaceTime Reaction Gestures on the Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and did not find a setting to do so, you’re certainly not alone. That’s because the ability to turn off and turn on the FaceTime Reactions are not actually in the Settings app, and instead they’re hidden away in the FaceTime app on the Mac, and in Control Center on iPhone and iPad. Read along and we’ll walk you through disabling FaceTime Reaction Gestures on Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

How to Disable FaceTime Reaction Gestures on Mac

You must have FaceTime open on the Mac to be able to disable the FaceTime Reaction Gestures, here’s what to do:

1. Open the FaceTime app on Mac
2. After your FaceTime camera is on and active, pull down the FaceTime menu from the menu bar on the Mac
3. Click on “Reactions” to turn off this feature, making sure the Reactions icon is no longer green to signify it has been disabled



4. Use FaceTime as usual, without having to worry about reactions being triggered by gestures like two thumbs up

And similarly, if you have the reaction gestures turned off, you can turn them on by simply performing the same action, but selecting to make sure Reactions is enabled (and thus green in the menu).

How to Disable FaceTime Reaction Gestures on iPhone & iPad

You must be on an active FaceTime video call to disable the FaceTime Reaction Gestures on iPhone or iPad, here’s how it works:

1. Open FaceTime on the iPhone or iPad
2. Start a FaceTime video chat as usual, where your camera is on and facing you
3. Open Control Center while on the FaceTime call by swiping down from the top right corner of the screen
4. Tap on “Effects” in the upper left corner
5. Tap to unselect “Reactions” from the Effects menu
6. Leave Control Center and return to your FaceTime video chat

If you wish to turn on the FaceTime Reaction gestures, you can open FaceTime and return to Control Center at any time to toggle the Reactions back on again through the same Effects section.

Why the FaceTime Reaction Gestures are not toggled on and off through a Settings panel for FaceTime, or within FaceTime Settings, and why the settings are different on the Mac from iPhone and iPad, is all a bit of a mystery, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see this setting location change in the future to a more obvious location, especially if Apple receives negative feedback about toggling the feature off and on.

Do you use FaceTime Gesture Reactions or did you turn the feature off? What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.