Voice and video calls are now working.

UAE residents woke up to several calls received on their smartphone. It turns out the block on WhatsApp voice and video calls have been lifted as of this morning, letting everyone do a VOIP session with their loved ones.

The same thing happened on other VOIP services as well, including Snapchat, Telegram and even FaceTime – all of which have voice and video calling services that can now be used in the UAE whether you are on data or on Wi-Fi.

By law, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has blocked all VOIP services in the country other than dedicated services provided by telecom providers.

The TRA hasn’t issued a statement on the news – so we don’t know if this is a minor glitch or if all VOIP services have now been blocked in the UAE.

We will update this news once the information becomes available.

UPDATE: We got a note from Du and Etisalat saying that audio and video calling capabilities is simply a glitch caused by a recent WhatsApp update. The ban is still in place and will be implemented later today.

Guess all good things must come to an end.