FaceTime in Saudi Arabia

I have a phone bought in saudi arabia without facetime, I receive an update when I was in the vacation in the ohilippines but saudi simcard still inserted on mg phone, after the update suddenly facetime shown in the home screen abd its work.

You are right. iPhones which came without FaceTime and then became available after 11.3 update, does not work on Foreign SIMs. The FaceTime gets removed automatically once you insert a Foreign SIM. Sad stuff but true.

Currently I’m here in Saudi Arabia and I’m facing some difficulties to activate my phone number with FaceTime and iMessage on my apple phone !

I’m using STC Sim card , The strange thing other phone Services provider “Companies” got no similar problem do Apple have any idea about this !!

Dear Prabhath,

Any iphone or tablet in saudia arabia (Facetime /Without face).all have facetime know there is few basic step which you need to follow . after that your face time will be active. remember to active facetime you need an Active sim .if you are in saudia arabia ( zain ,stc, mobily) .you need to put that sim in your mobile, if your mobile is active you need to put a sim in your mobile and go to setting and format your mobile ( reset).remember never take out your sim if you want to active the face time,once you format or update your phone try to finished the process once you active your phone the Facetime apps will come but kindly switched on your WiFi and wait for few min until a message will come from carrier ,when it came select okay and then click on the facetime app and wait for active.

remember once you follow this process it can be apply by those device which come as a without facetime .Thank you and i hope it solve your issue .

Dear khalil ,

Kindly used wifi because wifi connection is better then data sim.and apple server take time, if you face same issue, try to switch off your phone and on it again but remember used Wifi .and put active sim inside mobile .which have balance inside ( the one you used in daily routine for calling )

Dear hanif,

Any apple phone or tablet have facetime in saudia arabia ( even without face time phone have face time also)

know there is few basic step which you need to follow . after that your face time will be active. remember to active facetime you need an Active sim .if you are in saudia arabia ( zain ,stc, mobily) .you need to put that sim in your mobile, if your mobile is active you need to put a sim in your mobile and go to setting and format your mobile ( reset).remember never take out your sim if you want to active the face time,once you format or update your phone try to finished the process once you active your phone the Facetime apps will come but kindly switched on your WiFi and wait for few min until a message will come from carrier ,when it came select okay and then click on the facetime app and wait for active.

remember once you follow this process it can be apply by those device which come as a without facetime .Thank you and i hope it solve your issue .

Dear Prabhath,

Any iphone or tablet in saudia arabia (Facetime /Without face).all have facetime know there is few basic step which you need to follow . after that your face time will be active. remember to active facetime you need an Active sim .if you are in saudia arabia ( zain ,stc, mobily) .you need to put that sim in your mobile, if your mobile is active you need to put a sim in your mobile and go to setting and format your mobile ( reset).remember never take out your sim if you want to active the face time,once you format or update your phone try to finished the process once you active your phone the Facetime apps will come but kindly switched on your WiFi and wait for few min until a message will come from carrier ,when it came select okay and then click on the facetime app and wait for active.

remember once you follow this process it can be apply by those device which come as a without facetime .Thank you and i hope it solve your issue .

I did inserted my old stc sim and found FaceTime in my settings. Tried and works fine. I noticed this waiting for activation thing in the settings although I already used the app for calling. When I changed the sim to my smart sim, I t’s not working anymore, instead I got this waiting for activation thing that takes forever. I’ll try to delete the app, maybe it will work coz you said you have deleted the app prior to inserting your Saudi sim. Will update if that thing works

I have this problem too. Worse, it's not because i bought a Saudi phone. I was given a replacement phone by Apple service center when my phone was under warranty. I did ask if there is any Facetime restriction at the point of replacement. The service center said no and i proceed to receive the phone. I only realised this issue a few months later after my warranty had finished.

I had returned to service center and also raised Apple case tickets. To my surprise, all the service center staff and even Apple Support Staff are ignorant of the issue (or pretend to be). They are offering all the usual troubleshooting methods to update new software which will not work. Then Apple Support staff promised to get back to me but failed to do so. Reference Apple case ***. See my youtube video to demonstrate the disappearing Facetime icon. https://youtu.be/d144KepATGo

It seem that there is an issue but Apple is not acknowledging it and still claiming there is no Facetime restriction in all their Iphones.

[Personal Information Edited by Host]

This is not an issue. The reason FaceTime was restricted on your replacement phone was because it was restricted on the phone you replaced.

You have no call to complain about this.

If FaceTime was important to you, you should not have purchased a phone in KSA.

Didn't add this point, my phone is purchased outside KSA with Facetime and was faulty, i brought to the nearest Apple service center since i work there. I did state my phone is from outside KSA and ask about Facetime restriction on replacement set at the point they want to replace my phone which they confirmed there will be no issue.

Get help with FaceTime on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch in Saudi Arabia - Apple Support

You won’t be able to do this yourself. It’d need to come through your wireless carrier, or if the ban is lifted in the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan as well, in an iOS update.

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