mcfloyd49

Q: imessage and Facetime sign in activation error iPad ios8.1.2

I notice another user has posted today 21st Jan 2015, the same problem I have had for a couple of days.

 

I have an iPad Air, an iPhone 5S and an iMac. Using my iPad on Saturday 18th suddenly couldn't see my imessages or use Facetime (I'd used FT half an hour before it all went); kept on getting Activation error on both Apps. BUT ONLY ON MY IPAD AIR?!

 

My iPhone and iMac work absolutely fine and I can continue to use both with imessage and Facetime. I have so far done the following, as advised by Apple Support and my local Apple Genius Bar appointment today:

 

  • Hard reset. Used home button and off button to reset. Didn't work
  • Reset Network settings. Didn't work
  • Reset All settings. Didn't work
  • Backed up and Restored iPad. Tried to log in to iMessage and Facetime from as new setup before restoring backup. Didn't work
  • Apple Genius bar performed a "deep restore". Didn't work
  • Apple Genius bar performed a "set up as brand new iPad" process. Didn't work
  • Logged out of Apple ID on iPhone then tried logging in to same Apple ID on iPad. Didn't work
  • Apple confirmed my Apple ID is correctly verified on their system.

 

Apple have now escalated my issue to their Engineering Team, so I hope they can fix, but the Apple guy in the store said he'd never come across this problem before.

 

I have been told IT IS NOT a hardware issue, it has to a a software issue, but it sounds more like me that it's an Apple verification issue on their servers?

 

If anyone has come across this, or can provide any other ideas I'd be most grateful. I still have use of imessage and Factime on my iPhone and iMac, so its more frustration that I have an expensive iPad Air that is missing paid-for functionality that I expect Apple to address and nothing more.

 

Thanks in advance

iPad Air, iOS 8.1.2

Posted on Jan 21, 2015 7:18 AM

Close

Q: imessage and Facetime sign in activation error iPad ios8.1.2

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

first Previous Page 26 of 30 last Next
  • by JGW_Canada,

    JGW_Canada JGW_Canada Apr 28, 2015 2:50 PM in response to Sutton Owl
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 28, 2015 2:50 PM in response to Sutton Owl

    I have called multiple times leaving requests for an update. No returned call after the last few requests.

     

    I am now getting the "if we ignore him, maybe he will go away support model."

  • by 'shana,

    'shana 'shana Apr 28, 2015 4:29 PM in response to JGW_Canada
    Level 1 (55 points)
    Apr 28, 2015 4:29 PM in response to JGW_Canada

    JGW_Canada wrote:

     

    I have called multiple times leaving requests for an update. No returned call after the last few requests.

     

    I am now getting the "if we ignore him, maybe he will go away support model."

    I think they must be getting more and more calls and have nothing to tell people.

     

    I don't even really know what I did to get mine working again. I know I downloaded a calculator so I had to log into apps/itunes, I downloaded the free app (calculator) and when I realized there were ads, put it in airplane mode to avoid the ads. When I took it out of airplane mode that's when I realized how close my time was to being correct and tried and got into iMessage.

  • by siberianjy,

    siberianjy siberianjy Apr 30, 2015 10:55 AM in response to mcfloyd49
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 30, 2015 10:55 AM in response to mcfloyd49

    This is such a fiasco I don't even know where to begin. Add me to the list of people experiencing this maddening problem.

     

    Bought an iPad mini 3 two days ago for my husband's grandfather as a birthday present. The man is turning 87 tomorrow. I wanted to make an Apple ID for him and get everything set up, as he is new to iPad. Load it up with apps and tweak the settings so he doesn't have to. I did just that, even loaded the new Apple ID up with money so he could get to purchasing apps himself as soon as he got hold of the iPad.

     

    Well, while setting it up and after I had installed a ton of apps and spent a couple of hours tweaking everything, I notice his Apple ID is not logged into iMessage or FaceTime. No biggie, I thought, and proceeded to try and log him in. What followed was an entire evening of maddening attempts to resolve the problem. I went through all the rigamarole, wiped and reset the iPad about 3 times, tried different networks, checked clock, basically EVERYTHING listed in this thread. Alongside that I must have tried to log him in 100 times since then, but I either get the "network" error message or I just get bounced back to the login screen without comment.

     

    This is especially frustrating and upsetting for me because this iPad is supposed to be a GIFT for someone. And tomorrow I get to gift him a product and then proceed to explain that it doesn't even work the way it's supposed to! iMessage and FaceTime were supposed to be the two highlights and one of the main two reasons I chose it as a gift. The man doesn't have a smartphone, so this is a way for him to keep in touch with friends and family who do own iOS devices... or so I thought!

     

    Just posting mostly to vent... apparently there's no real solution for this so I don't know what to do other than wait for it to "magically" work like many others have. I am a loyal Apple customer but honestly I find something like this unacceptable, and it has definitely tarnished Apple's reputation in my eyes.

  • by fandabidosie,

    fandabidosie fandabidosie Apr 30, 2015 11:07 AM in response to mcfloyd49
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 30, 2015 11:07 AM in response to mcfloyd49

    Received a reply from my tech support guru today informing me that I should now be able to sign in to iMessage and face time as per the engineers. Still doesn't work. Back to the drawing board!

  • by fueradeljuego,

    fueradeljuego fueradeljuego Apr 30, 2015 12:34 PM in response to fandabidosie
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 30, 2015 12:34 PM in response to fandabidosie

    Let's try to narrow down what all of us who are having this problem have in common. I've already surmised that the iMessage we can't log onto is based on an email address rather than a phone number, right?  What else? I tried to set mine up for my 85 year old father; and I see siberianji tried to set it up for the 87 year old grandfather of her husband....does date of birth having something to do with the glitch? And Apple ID that was set up by someone else, a relative?

     

    I wonder if they really have engineers working on this or if they are just ignoring the problem.

  • by 'shana,

    'shana 'shana Apr 30, 2015 3:24 PM in response to fueradeljuego
    Level 1 (55 points)
    Apr 30, 2015 3:24 PM in response to fueradeljuego

    As far as I have been able to determine from posts here (AppleCare won't say anything) the things we have in common

     

    • It's all email addresses used as AppleIDs
    • It's all iPads, at least to start (I couldn't log in on an iPod touch once my ID quit)
    • It's mostly iPad Mini 3s with possibly a few new iPad Airs
    • It's all AppleIDs that were used for FaceTime/iMessage for the first time after the middle of March (I had an AppleID I made in January but didn't set up iMessage and Facetime till March 14. It worked until sometime in the early hours of March 20. I set my husband's ID up March 14 and it worked on his iPod even after mine didn't work on my iPad. His ID didn't work on my iPad either once mine stopped working but my friend who has had an Apple ID forever was able to use my iPad for iMessage. She also has a linked iPhone with a phone number)
    • They're all wifi. As far as I know no one with a wifi+cellular has had this problem
    • We all have iOS 8.2 or 8.3

     

    So what this tells me is that it's possibly a 2 or 3 part problem.

     

    The AppleID for some people won't work on other devices for some people. Some people can use some devices and some people can use all devices. So there's something weird about the ID or the database it's accessing to validate.

     

    The cell iPads get their time from the cell tower. The wifi Minis especially have a rep for losing time. That's why I think sometimes having the wifi mini automatically get the timezone and time worked for some people and not for others - it also depends on how it's getting the time automatically. I don't know.

     

    The update. lots of people have said it was working before 8.2 or 8.3. If you look around this forum, there are old posts (and even the beginning of this one) that people made when 8.0 came out or 7.something came out and all of a sudden people couldn't use FaceTime or iMessage. The last time before this was in January, and I think they sorted that out for a lot of people behind the scenes and by telling people to make sure their time zone and time were right (or both) so I think the time is still important in combination with other things.

     

    As far as I can tell, one person made a new AppleID that worked. Lots of people made a new one that didn't work. Nothing works for everyone so I suspect there is more than one cause (or combination of causes)

     

    Sorry to write a novel and I hope y'all chime in!

     

    Mine suddenly started working after a month - on April 22nd. The engineers had my account in test mode for over a week. My tech guy called once to see if it was working but it wasn't even after I restarted it. On the 22nd, I was messing with the time and realized it was closer to real time than ever and tried signing in and it worked. Was it something the engineers did? Something I did? The combination - it needed something they did and something I did? I have no idea. The won't respond to me.

  • by Sutton Owl,

    Sutton Owl Sutton Owl Apr 30, 2015 4:05 PM in response to 'shana
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 30, 2015 4:05 PM in response to 'shana

    'shana,

     

    It's all AppleIDs that were used for FaceTime/iMessage for the first time after the middle of March

     

    My Mum had an apple id from late 2013, which was working on an ipad air until she changed the password and it now won't work on the ipad air or a new mini ipad 3 so this isn't quite right unless the apple id is somehow refreshed on change of password.

     

    New apple id

     

    My Dad setup a new apple id. This works on the ipad air but not on the mini ipad.

     

    Hope this helps

  • by 'shana,

    'shana 'shana Apr 30, 2015 4:16 PM in response to Sutton Owl
    Level 1 (55 points)
    Apr 30, 2015 4:16 PM in response to Sutton Owl

    What I was thinking, is that the AppleID wasn't used on an iPad Mini 3 for the first time for FaceTime/ imessage until after the middle of March. AppleIDs that were in use on other devices or even on the iPad Mini 3 but not actually ever signed into FaceTime or iMessage on the iPad Mini 3 until after the middle of March

     

    I don't know why changing the password on the iPad Air caused it to stop working there.

     

    This whole thing makes my brain hurt.

  • by 'shana,

    'shana 'shana Apr 30, 2015 6:29 PM in response to 'shana
    Level 1 (55 points)
    Apr 30, 2015 6:29 PM in response to 'shana

    Just got a call from my Tech, engineers asked him to call and confirm that my AppleID was working for iMessage/ FaceTime.

     

    Told him it started working last week. Asked him what happened but he didn't know. He did say there was a problem with my AppleID but didn't know what that problem was.

  • by Shankar_gaur,

    Shankar_gaur Shankar_gaur May 4, 2015 10:54 AM in response to mcfloyd49
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 4, 2015 10:54 AM in response to mcfloyd49

    I have also the same problem and trying to fix for more than 2/3 months by checking all procedures/method/citations on different pages. but still not succeeded. hope, apple team will soon response this problem

  • by siberianjy,

    siberianjy siberianjy May 4, 2015 11:57 AM in response to siberianjy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 4, 2015 11:57 AM in response to siberianjy

    Popping back in as more of an update, as I never managed to find an actual solution but ended up using a "workaround" which may be of help to some people.

     

    As a completely last ditch effort before I was about to gift the iPad to my husband's grandfather, I suddenly remembered that I had a couple of old and dormant Apple IDs that were tied to e-mail addresses I still had access to. I'd used them in the past to purchase content from the Korean and Japanese App / iTunes stores. I hadn't topped them up or used them at all in ages, and I didn't have any real use for them anymore.

     

    Since I was able to log into iMessage and FaceTime with my personal (old) Apple ID, I figured these old ones would probably work, too. Since NO newly-created Apple IDs were working on the iPad, no matter where I created the new account (on Mac, iPhone, or on a different iPad), my plan was to "repurpose" one of these old ones.

     

    First I tried logging in to iMessage with both accounts on the new iPad to ensure that they would work. Strangely enough, the Korean account did not work (account was created in 2012) and I got the exact same problems and "network" error message as with the new Apple ID. The Japanese account however DID work (created in 2009) and I was able to use iMessage and FaceTime immediately and without any trouble.

     

    What I did then was to log into My Apple ID with the Japanese ID and changed the login e-mail address to a new one which I made for my husband's grandfather on Gmail. So basically, I ended up "surrendering" this old Apple ID to him, just so he would be able to use iMessage and FaceTime!

     

    Like I said, definitely not a fix. Feels more like a shoddy band-aid slapped over the wound. But at least we can communicate with him over this Apple ID for the time being, and then hopefully switch him over to the newly-created one whenever it starts working (if it ever does).

  • by 'shana,

    'shana 'shana May 4, 2015 1:43 PM in response to siberianjy
    Level 1 (55 points)
    May 4, 2015 1:43 PM in response to siberianjy

    I'm glad you had a working AppleID to give him. Waiting for Apple to sort this out could be a very long wait.

  • by 'shana,

    'shana 'shana May 4, 2015 1:45 PM in response to Shankar_gaur
    Level 1 (55 points)
    May 4, 2015 1:45 PM in response to Shankar_gaur

    Did you call AppleCare and get a case number?

  • by addis_ababa,

    addis_ababa addis_ababa May 4, 2015 3:30 PM in response to 'shana
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 4, 2015 3:30 PM in response to 'shana

    'shana wrote:

     

    As far as I have been able to determine from posts here (AppleCare won't say anything) the things we have in common

     

    • It's all email addresses used as AppleIDs
    • It's all iPads, at least to start (I couldn't log in on an iPod touch once my ID quit)
    • It's mostly iPad Mini 3s with possibly a few new iPad Airs
    • It's all AppleIDs that were used for FaceTime/iMessage for the first time after the middle of March(I had an AppleID I made in January but didn't set up iMessage and Facetime till March 14. It worked until sometime in the early hours of March 20. I set my husband's ID up March 14 and it worked on his iPod even after mine didn't work on my iPad. His ID didn't work on my iPad either once mine stopped working but my friend who has had an Apple ID forever was able to use my iPad for iMessage. She also has a linked iPhone with a phone number)
    • They're all wifi. As far as I know no one with a wifi+cellular has had this problem
    • We all have iOS 8.2 or 8.3

     

    I have an iPad 3rd Gen Wifi 32 gb with iOS 7.1.1. Been running iMessage/Facetime perfectly for years. Exact same problem since a few days. I have tried everything - except updating iOS which I want to avoid and judging from this thread and other sources that doesn't seem to help anyway. Nothing seems to work. I haven't been in contact with customer support yet though. Looking at this thread I understand your theory, but it also happens to other devices. I think it is just a coincidence that most people have the devices you listed. Or they may be affected to a higher degree. But they are not the only devices with this problem.

     

    This is awful. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple themselves are clueless, or it is a huge database flaw/error which they only can fix by resetting/rebuilding verification keys one by one.

  • by 'shana,

    'shana 'shana May 4, 2015 4:33 PM in response to addis_ababa
    Level 1 (55 points)
    May 4, 2015 4:33 PM in response to addis_ababa

    There have been problems with iMessage and FaceTime with almost every iOS. And every time it seems like it's caused by something different.

     

    Can you use FaceTime/iMessage on another device? And I assume you checked your time zone/ time since you said you tried everything.

     

    If I were you I'd call AppleCare. The more info they have the better.

     

    "This is awful. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple themselves are clueless, or it is a huge database flaw/error which they only can fix by resetting/rebuilding verification keys one by one. "

     

    I agree with you!

first Previous Page 26 of 30 last Next