UAE's free FB Messenger video calls

After more than a month of waiting, Facebook Messenger’s video calling feature has finally arrived in the UAE.

“Today, we’re introducing video calling in Messenger. Now you can have face-to-face conversations with your friends and the people you care about, via Messenger,” Facebook said in a media statement sent to Emirates 24|7.

Facebook Messenger video calls can be made with just one tap, says the social media giant. “If you’re messaging with someone and realise that words just aren’t enough, you can simply choose the video icon in the top right corner of the screen and start a video call right from within an existing Messenger conversation,” it notes.

Messenger already offers people the ability to make voice calls to friends and loved ones around the world.

With the introduction of video calling feature here in the UAE, the social media behemoth will expand Messenger’s real-time communication features, adding to the more than 600 million people globally who use Messenger every month to reach others wherever they are, from anywhere.

“It’s fast, reliable and high quality,” claims Facebook.

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According to Facebook, video calling in Messenger is available for calls made from a mobile phone to another mobile phone, even if one person is on iOS and the other person is on an Android device.

This is the latest feature released for Messenger, following the ability to send money to friends, the launch of Messenger Platform and the introduction of Businesses on Messenger.

Video calling in Messenger launched in late April for people on iOS and Android in Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Laos, Lithuania, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, the UK, the US and Uruguay.

“We’ll be rolling out to other regions and locales over the coming months,” Facebook had then said in a blog post.

In late May, Facebook Messenger’s free video calling feature rolled out worldwide, according to Facebook’s Vice President of Messaging Products David Marcus, who pointed out that there are a few countries that do not have access to the free video calling service due to quality issues, especially since the feature does not require a WiFi connection. 

Marcus had then written on his blog that he “would love to offer the service in UAE, but operators are blocking it.”

Now, it seems that operators have unblocked the feature, and UAE users who have installed the latest version of the Facebook Messenger iOS or Android app have access to the video calling feature. 

Incidentally, callers on both ends need to have the Facebook Messenger app on their smartphones for the video calls to go through. 

The Messenger video calling feature is Facebook’s attempt at competing against Apple’s FaceTime, Microsoft’s Skype and Google’s Hangouts.

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