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Q: enabling facetime for iphone 5 purchased from Saudi Arabia

even if the iphone I purchased is from saudi arabia , could I possibly activate facetime or should I forget about using it?

iPhone 5, iOS 7.0.2

Posted on Oct 15, 2013 9:37 AM

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Q: enabling facetime for iphone 5 purchased from Saudi Arabia

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  • by Michael Black,

    Michael Black Michael Black Oct 15, 2013 9:38 AM in response to metonline
    Level 7 (25,306 points)
    Oct 15, 2013 9:38 AM in response to metonline

    No way to ever get facetime on that device.

  • by wjosten,Solvedanswer

    wjosten wjosten Oct 15, 2013 9:44 AM in response to metonline
    Level 10 (94,634 points)
    iPhone
    Oct 15, 2013 9:44 AM in response to metonline

    For you, Skype or similar is your only choice.

  • by metonline,

    metonline metonline Oct 15, 2013 9:50 AM in response to Michael Black
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Oct 15, 2013 9:50 AM in response to Michael Black

    Thanks for your reply..

     

    Is it a hardware issue of a configuration of the software?

  • by deggie,Helpful

    deggie deggie Oct 15, 2013 9:51 AM in response to metonline
    Level 9 (54,806 points)
    iPhone
    Oct 15, 2013 9:51 AM in response to metonline

    Hardware issue.

  • by wjosten,Helpful

    wjosten wjosten Oct 15, 2013 9:54 AM in response to metonline
    Level 10 (94,634 points)
    iPhone
    Oct 15, 2013 9:54 AM in response to metonline

    Actually, not a hardware issue, per se, just the the government there has banned FaceTime & Apple must comply. Thus, your phone will never have FaceTime because the IMEI number will prevent such from being installed on your phone no matter how many times you restore.

  • by metonline,

    metonline metonline Oct 15, 2013 10:05 AM in response to wjosten
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Oct 15, 2013 10:05 AM in response to wjosten

    Thanks for making it very clear !

  • by metonline,

    metonline metonline Oct 15, 2013 10:05 AM in response to deggie
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Oct 15, 2013 10:05 AM in response to deggie

    Thank you !

  • by bobmy2,

    bobmy2 bobmy2 Nov 4, 2013 6:51 PM in response to metonline
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 4, 2013 6:51 PM in response to metonline

    Apple support just had me do a full restore on my phone.  I lived in Saudi when I bought it but now work in Japan.  They told me that the restore would solve it. I still don't have facetime available.  Wjosten says IMEI will always prevent it.  Apple said don't worry. It seems unlikely that Apple would make completely unreversable changes like blocking a program no matter where you take the phone.

     

    I want to believe my support person but things are looking grim and restoring all the apps and iTunes kinda limits my mobility.  I hope someone has a good idea short of scrapping the phone.

  • by Michael Black,

    Michael Black Michael Black Nov 5, 2013 5:25 AM in response to bobmy2
    Level 7 (25,306 points)
    Nov 5, 2013 5:25 AM in response to bobmy2

    iPhones sold in Saudi are prohibited by Saudi law from enabling Facetime.  Your support person was misinformed - a phone sold there will never have Facetime enabled on it.  There is no patch or workaround to that - the feature is permanently blocked in order to meet the terms for Apple to have sold that device in that market in the first place.

  • by Appleloverdeviraj,

    Appleloverdeviraj Appleloverdeviraj Nov 5, 2013 12:09 PM in response to Michael Black
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2013 12:09 PM in response to Michael Black

    I had bought iphone5 in Saudi same above problem is in my device. Face time is showing in notification centre but not activate. As you mntion above mr. Micheal there is permanently blocked this function. As I realize it there should be solution after leaving saudi to use this function there must have solution from apple company

  • by Michael Black,

    Michael Black Michael Black Nov 5, 2013 12:11 PM in response to Appleloverdeviraj
    Level 7 (25,306 points)
    Nov 5, 2013 12:11 PM in response to Appleloverdeviraj

    Sure there is a solution, sell that iPhone and buy one that does allow facetime.  And that, btw, is the ONLY solution.  An iPhone sold in a country that requires that facetime be blocked will never get facetime, regardless of where else that iPhone is used.

  • by bobmy2,

    bobmy2 bobmy2 Nov 5, 2013 2:52 PM in response to metonline
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2013 2:52 PM in response to metonline

    I wish I had found this before talking to Apple support. The phone has never recovered from the restore process and constantly reboots itself getting pretty hot and draining the battery in the process. I can start sync but after a minute... Bob's iphone cant be found and it is rebooting again.  I will look for info on downgrading to ios6 and maybe recover it.  I wish I had followed my gut and not done the restore.

     

    Thanks for the info and hopefully this gets a boost up in Google search so others can find it before speaking to support.  This is the first time one led me astray and I did ask her to check database regarding Saudi phones because I was beginning to suspect something was up from Saudi influence.