ZP Connect Adds Video Relay Service to FaceTime

ZP Connect, a US provider of communication services for Deaf and hard of hearing people, says its customers can now make Video Relay Service calls through Apple’s FaceTime, with a sign language interpreter brought into the conversation. The service started at 6:00 a.m. Central Time on Friday 30 October.

The Austin, Texas company announced the move in a release on its website dated 29 October, saying it is “the first company to make this service available to its customers”. That claim is ZP’s own. Apple is not quoted in the announcement and is not described as a partner; the release notes only that FaceTime is an Apple trademark. Customers are directed to a FaceTime sign-up page where they can register interest and ZP says it will “be in touch”.

What Video Relay Service does

Video Relay Service, usually shortened to VRS, lets someone who signs hold a phone conversation with a hearing person who speaks. According to ZP’s VRS support page, “an interpreter relays the conversation seamlessly between both parties” over a real-time video connection. The signer sees the interpreter on screen, and the interpreter speaks to the hearing caller on their behalf, then signs the reply.

ZP says its service runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and that calls can be placed anywhere in the US and to more than 45 other countries. It notes that VRS is funded by the US government and is free to eligible users. Until now, ZP customers made those calls through its own videophones, its apps or its browser-based service.

What changes with FaceTime

The new option moves the same service onto an app many people already have. “By bringing sign language interpreters into FaceTime conversations, ZP Connect opens new opportunities for Deaf and hard of hearing customers to communicate with hearing family members, friends, and colleagues,” the release says.

Chris Estrin, ZP’s chief experience officer, called it “another step forward, expanding access and opening more doors to connection at home, at work, and in our communities”. He added: “Every stride in accessibility creates more opportunities for Deaf and hard of hearing people to participate fully in everyday life.”

Chief executive Jeff Cordell said the company was “committed to using technology to modernize and simplify communications creating more human and personalized connections for our customers”, and called being first “a milestone we’re proud of”.

The release gives no technical detail. It says nothing about which iPhone, iPad or Mac models or software versions are supported, how a call is set up, or whether a hearing person can start a FaceTime VRS call. ZP’s website also carries a standing notice that emergency 911 calls through VRS “may be subject to certain limitations”. ZP published a version of the announcement in American Sign Language alongside the written release.

Who ZP Connect is

ZP Connect says it was founded in 2000 “by and for the Deaf community” and provides Video Relay Service, interpreting, captioning and accessible communication technology. It announced in November 2024 that it would join Teleperformance, the digital business services group that also owns the interpreting firm LanguageLine Solutions.

ZP’s FaceTime launch moves the interpreter, not the user

The point of this launch is where the interpreter now sits. Deaf and hard of hearing users have long had to bring their calls to a relay provider’s own hardware or apps. ZP is now offering to bring the interpreter to a platform its customers already use for everyday video calls, which removes a step rather than adding a feature.

How much that matters depends on detail ZP has yet to publish. Its own sign-up page asks people to register interest, which suggests access is managed rather than automatic. The release is also silent on how a call starts and which devices work, and those answers decide whether this is a convenience for existing customers or a wider shift. Recent TSN coverage of accessibility tools, from Baroness Campbell’s AI-recreated voice in Parliament to the accessibility aims in the Waymo and Toyota robotaxi plan, shows the same pattern: the claim lands first and the practical terms follow.

FaceTime itself keeps spreading across Apple hardware, including the new HomeView home hub. ZP has not said whether its service will reach every device that runs FaceTime. The “first company” label is ZP’s, and Apple has said nothing on the launch.