Facebook vice president of messaging products David Marcus shared the news today in — where else — a Facebook post. “We’re happy to share we’ve now rolled out the capability globally, with the exception of a few countries we’re still working on improving quality for,” Marcus wrote. “So make sure you get the latest and greatest version for iOS and Android, give it a try, and as always … tell us how we can make it even better for you!”
“Improving quality” isn’t the only reason that the app isn’t available in some countries. Responding to a Facebook comment from a user who asked why the feature wasn’t available in Dubai, Marcus wrote “we would love to offer the service in UAE, but operators are blocking it. Maybe if enough of you ask them to open it up, they will.” Other countries that have not yet received video calling functionality include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the Philippines.
In addition to the Facebook app on iOS and Android devices, video calling is also up and running on the Messenger website, which launched last month. In a similar move, Facebook’s WhatsApp added free voice calling last month as well.
This may not be the only new feature coming to Messenger users. Yesterday we reported that Facebook had confirmed it was speaking with developers about making games for Messenger. This would certainly fit in with the company’s plans to make Messenger not just a service, but a platform.
May has been a big month for Facebook. Last week the company rolled out Instant Articles, which displays news stories from certain content partners directly within a user’s stream, meaning that users don’t have to leave Facebook in order to read content from these sites.
