UPDATE 2:
Via ArabNews
"The euphoria over the sudden resumption of call facility on WhatsApp in the Kingdom on Saturday was short-lived as the service was not widely available the following day.
A large number of users of the popular messaging service, barring a few, said that the call facility was working no more on Sunday.
The call facility on WhatsApp was blocked 10 months ago and had suddenly resumed on Saturday to everybody’s surprise. Official agencies refused to comment on the issue. The service was blocked on March 15 last year in the Kingdom after pressure by telecom companies that it was creating big losses to them.
Meanwhile, some experts were quoted as saying by local media that the service will not be available until WhatsApp company agrees to install servers in Saudi Arabia so that the competent authorities can reach all data, if needed."
READ:
WHATSAPP CALL FACILITY NO MORE
WhatsApp is available for free as a calling and video app with text and image support for iPhone, Android, Nokia Symbian S60 & S40, BlackBerry and Windows Phone.WhatsApp is now totally free for download for Android and IOS.
Via ArabNews
"The euphoria over the sudden resumption of call facility on WhatsApp in the Kingdom on Saturday was short-lived as the service was not widely available the following day.
A large number of users of the popular messaging service, barring a few, said that the call facility was working no more on Sunday.
The call facility on WhatsApp was blocked 10 months ago and had suddenly resumed on Saturday to everybody’s surprise. Official agencies refused to comment on the issue. The service was blocked on March 15 last year in the Kingdom after pressure by telecom companies that it was creating big losses to them.
Meanwhile, some experts were quoted as saying by local media that the service will not be available until WhatsApp company agrees to install servers in Saudi Arabia so that the competent authorities can reach all data, if needed."
READ:
WHATSAPP CALL FACILITY NO MORE
WhatsApp is available for free as a calling and video app with text and image support for iPhone, Android, Nokia Symbian S60 & S40, BlackBerry and Windows Phone.WhatsApp is now totally free for download for Android and IOS.
Click here if you want to download this free audio and video calling app messenger.
Local media in Saudi Arabia ARABNEWS reported that many users of WhatsApp was celebrating on Saturday after the calling option finally became available on the service in Saudi Arabia. WhatsApp is a totally free (they dropped the 1.0$ a year subscription) messaging system that was bought and owned by Facebook.
Speaking in Munich, Germany, Jan Koum, the maker of WhatsApp announced that, "Today, we are announcing that WhatsApp is going to be free to users. We aren't going to charge a dollar a year anymore.”
Whatsapp, with a billion registered users worldwide was banned a few months ago in Saudi Arabia and the news in the local media on Saturday said that "The ban has been lifted in the Kingdom.”
Many expats, including Saudi’s expressed joy with the opportunity to call using internet, their friends and families within the Kingdom as well as expat's families in the Philippines, India, Pakistan and other countries.
No report from the authorities in Saudi Arabia, however, if the lifting of the ban thereby allowing free call option, will be permanent or temporary.
No report from the authorities in Saudi Arabia, however, if the lifting of the ban thereby allowing free call option, will be permanent or temporary.
UPDATE:
Some people after installing WhatsApp and trying the call option received the message below.
A few months ago, WhatsApp had issued a statement on its website that read: "Unfortunately, the WhatsApp Calls service is not available in all countries due to local laws and regulations. If you are in any of these countries, you will not be able to make or receive these calls, and if you are in a country that offers the WhatsApp Calls service, you will not be able to call users located in countries that do not offer the service."
WhatsApp can also be used as free texting and calling app internationally in Laptop, and PC.
"To connect your web browser to your WhatsApp client, simply open https://web.whatsapp.com in your Google Chrome browser. You will see a QR code --- scan the code inside of WhatsApp, and you’re ready to go. You have now paired WhatsApp on your phone with the WhatsApp web client. Your phone needs to stay connected to the internet for our web client to work, and please make sure to install the latest version of WhatsApp on your phone. Unfortunately for now, we will not be able to provide web client to our iOS users due to Apple platform limitations."