Fiber optic white-light interferometry (WLI) possesses a considerable advantage with regard to the ability to provide absolute and unambiguous measurement, comparing to laser interferometry. The research on fiber optic white-light interferometry in recent years is reviewed in this paper, and fiber optic WLI based on phase measurement method is focused, including interference-order method, Fourier-transform WLI, Fourier-transform relative WLI, wavelength-scanning WLI, and phase-shifted WLI. The main problems, such as spectrum acquirement, measurement resolution and automatic measurement, are solved in the work in order to accelerate the technique in instrumentation and engineering application.