Why FaceTime is not working in UAE

You can buy iPhones in UAE with Facetime, but not through Etisalat or DU.

Even at Sharaf DG they once asked me which one do you want? with Facetime or without Facetime? I am sure at the shops in the malls they have both.

I bought a 5s for my wife from a shop in Burdubai and that is with Facetime (it is clear from the power adapter's AC pins that its not meant for UAE), which infact works inside and outside UAE with UAE and outside sim. i activated it first inside UAE w/etisalat sim.

The otherside: My iP4 from Etisalat doesn't have facetime; within UAE and outside, with UAE sim and outside sim.

Hope this helps atleast someone who is yet to buy one.

So I guess i have to wait for it to be sold by someone other than Du or Etisalat. Basically a gray market purchase from Sharaf DG or other electronic retailers.

If you purchase a gray market iPhone, it will probably not have warranty support since it is being sold in the wrong country.

hello,

some information here isn't right. My ipad mini has facetime and i use it most of the time. my friend has an iphone 5 and facetime works perfectly on it.

im aware that it is blocked by uae gov but there is still a secret about it. I was planning to buy iphone 6 from outside uae. but now that i've read this thread.....

bro could you tell me how is facetime a hardware configuration? 😐

Hi all ,

recently I have bought an Iphone 6 in UAE , from thier apple store web page with free delivery. I was not aware about this facetime issue , however I have activiated it using my apple store ID from Poland while still in UAE but with a Polish sim card that does not have any restrictions in the country of origin.

I am back in poland now , and the facetime option is not available at all in the device , however the imessage is under "settings/messages"

and i was able to use it for a couple of messages . after 2 hours I wanted to imessage again and got a message "facetime and Imessage --> your carrier may charge for SMS messages used to activate Facetime and IMessage"

so after reboot the issue persists , the imessage icon is enabled however the comment beneath it states " activating ......" and pops with th e error message mentioned above.

so in my opinion if it is a hardware issue then the imessage would not have worked from the first place , however it is there but not working anymore ...nevertheless it did for 3 hours. it makes me wonder if in my case If I restore it in Poland perhaps it will work.

I will give it a try and let you know guys.

is that facetime problem affect my front camera hardware or there is no relation ?
and my front camera (iphone from UAE) is like any iphone from any country and the camera have the same quality ?

As stated repeatedly in your other thread: the lack of FaceTime does not affect the camera functionality or quality.

Sodaboy1978 wrote:

Need to be connected to wi-fi and have internet connection. If your signed in it may be possible that the firewall in the router is blocking the port.

Sodaboy,

Take a look at the other posts pointing out that FaceTime is not included on iOS devices sold in the UAE because the government prohibits its use.

Ralph9430 wrote:

Sodaboy1978 wrote:

Need to be connected to wi-fi and have internet connection. If your signed in it may be possible that the firewall in the router is blocking the port.

Sodaboy,

Take a look at the other posts pointing out that FaceTime is not included on iOS devices sold in the UAE because the government prohibits its use.

Check your dates, Ralph.......😉

@Meg St._Clair

You stressed the 'N' in Neverrrrrr 🙂 ... good response btw

Thanks St. Clair,

Can u pls tell if other apps like skype which also has video chatting feature available will work on phone which is bought from UAE and does not have facetime?

As I do not have access to the UAE App Store or UAE mobile carriers, I have no way to answer that definitely. I've heard they work. Why don't you download the app and try it yourself?

Best of luck.

On the last day of our trip to Dubai last week, my cousin and I decided to treet ourselves with an iPad Pro and bought two 128GB wi-fe models from the Apple Store in the Emirates Mall (already knowing that they came with no Facetime). After returning home to Turkey the next day we found out that there was a problem with my cousins device so we immediately took it to one of the local Apple Stores in Istanbul to have it checked (there was a little bump at the side edge of the steel case which you could only feel when moving your finger over it). Anyhow, after the checking was completed the Genius guy accepted that it was a defect and had the device replaced for a new one (with Facetime). Even though the same Genius guy said that the Facetime app will automatically be erased from the device in a few days, it's been almost a week and my cousin is still happly using his Facetime app 🙂 HOW IS THAT FOR LUCK!!!

What is the model number of your cousin's iPad Pro? Settings>General>About>Model.

You may have to scroll to see the entry for Model.