Q: How to enable facetime in iphone6 which bought in saudi arabia?

You cannot and never will be able to. Several Middle East nations have laws that require Apple to permanently disable FaceTime on all phones sold within their country.  If you want FaceTime you will have to buy a new iPhone.

No.

GB

Ichaal wrote:

 

But now I'm back to India . Can I able to access it now???

No, as I said for those phones to be sold in those countries, it is a legal requirement that Apple permanently disable facetime.

Hello Michael,

I do see iPhones sold in Saudi Arabia with Facetime enabled and without. If it was a restriction from government it should have been a big no for all model of iPhones. Let me share some URLs to website where iPhones are sold with Facetime and otherwise.

1. http://saudi.souq.com/sa-en/iphone-with-facetime/s/

2. http://saudi.souq.com/sa-en/iphone-without-facetime/s/

This is one of the best online selling portal ( I am not standing as an advocate for the website neither my intention is to market the website) where people can buy iPhones with facetime and without.

Some stores like Jarir Bookstore do sell iPhones in similar fashion too.

I have run into a similar scenario as mentioned in the subject. I purchased my iPhone and realized that I don't have facetime working in it. But when I took the same handset to Bahrain and used a Viva SIM card, the feature turned up. Is this how its supposed to work? I had been to apple's article

Wireless carrier support and features for iPhone in the Middle East - Apple Support .

This one bluntly says Facetime is not supported in Saudi Arabia. The statement and the reality are different.

So to conclude, in such scenario can I enable the facetime in Saudi Arabia ? I do have colleagues who are using same version of iPhones i have (iPhone 6) and they have Facetime working. In my case, if Facetime never works, it shouldn't have worked when I was Bahrain. I have no grudge on my fellow colleagues but this is puzzling me, Why this partiality Apple ?

iPhones sold by Apple or Apple Authorized resellers will have FaceTime disabled in those countries that require that for sale in their country.  Apple obeys such laws for legal commerce in those countries and requires their authorized resellers to comply as well.

Unauthorized  resellers, who by definition don't get their devices from official Apple distribution channels, can sell anything, obtained by any means, and from anywhere on the planet.  If you buy a device in a facetime banned country from an unauthorized reseller and it has FaceTime, then that phone originated in another country before landing in the unauthorized resellers hands.

This is why, in these FaceTime posts, everyone keeps saying that you need to know and understand the source (and if used, the original source) of what you are buying.

vinodtpba wrote:

 

 

This one bluntly says Facetime is not supported in Saudi Arabia. The statement and the reality are different.

 

 

And that is Apple's "blunt"  position and the statement is correct because the government in KSA is being "blunt" about banning FaceTime in it's country. Any iPhone sold through authorized channels (Apple online store, carriers) is an iPhone model made specifically for the KSA market and will have FT permanently crippled. You could go to Mars with that phone and FT will NEVER work.

Other phones that have FT enabled and sold in KSA are being sold illegally in the country as they are being smuggled into the country in violation of local law.

You have a point Michael. I completely agree with you.

Now the stores I had quoted are Apple authorized re-sellers. I would never reach out to any other sources apart from original re-sellers while picking up such costly device. My iPhone is a gem to me :-)

https://locate.apple.com/sa/en/sales/?pt=all&lat=21.5142351&lon=39.1900439&addre ss=Jeddah