Diagnose iMessage/Facetime activation failure

After updating my iPhone 5s to 8.1, it would no longer access Facetime or iMessage. Even though using the exact same login credentials I could get all other iCloud functions to work properly, Facetime and iMessage kept displaying "Waiting for activation" (for many hours) or claiming my ID or password was wrong (they both worked fine on my iMac and iPad).

Google led me to dozens of suggested fixes, some of which, while logical, did not work. Some of them were just plain crazy nonsense, so don't "thrash."

Here's my suggestion to narrow down the problem after trying simple things like toggling those apps on/off, and making sure they aren't restricted: Back up your phone in iTunes, then click Restore. When asked, choose to set it up as a new phone. Skip most of the setup dialogs and go right to iCloud, iMessage and Facetime and enter your login info. The two apps should verify and activate fairly quickly if you have decent cell signal (mine did within 3 minutes).

If this does not work, you probably have Apple ID or password issues. If it does work, you probably had corrupt preferences. Your choices at this point are to go ahead and restore from your backup and hope that the corrupt prefs don't return to your phone (this worked for me), or just restore apps and media and set all your prefs manually.

Hope this helps; it was driving me nuts.

PS: The next day my iPhone refused my password when I tried to activate Find My Phone. To fix this I force-quit Settings and it worked fine after that.

This user tip was generated from the following discussion: Diagnose iMessage/Facetime activation failure