Group FaceTime calls will not come to iOS 12 when new iPhone software update arrives, Apple says

The feature had been a central part of Apple's pitch for the latest release

Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi demonstrates group FaceTime as he speaks during the 2018 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) at the San Jose Convention Center (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Apple has pulled one of the biggest features of its new iPhone software update, and will release it later in the year instead.

During the company's Worldwide Developers Conference, held in June, Apple showed off a group FaceTime feature that would allow up to 32 people to video call each other at once.

It would be available in iOS 12 and the new update to MacOS, named Mojave, Apple said. And both would arrive this autumn.

But now Apple has said it has pulled that feature out of the update and it will no longer be around at launch. Instead, it will come later this year, it said.

“Group FaceTime has been removed from the initial release of iOS 12,” a note that accompanies the release of the latest version of the iOS beta software for developers read. The feature "will ship in a future software update later this fall," the message continues.

The feature had already been available in the beta versions of Apple's software. It appeared to be working fine in those test versions of both iOS and macOS.

Other new FaceTime features – which include the ability to put an emoji character over your face while you chat to someone – do not appear to have been removed from the update.

Apple has removed critical features at the last minute before. At WWDC in 2017, it announced its new wireless music service, called AirPlay 2 – but the feature was removed from iOS soon before it was released, and didn't actually arrive until just before this year's conference.

But group FaceTime had been a central part of Apple's pitch for the new software update, and is available for other video chat software. WhatsApp recently launched its own video calling feature, for instance – though that is limited to only four people.