Error activating Facetime

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Level 1

8 points

Error activating Facetime

Hi all.... I got a new phone and I am trying to give my mom my old one IPhone 6S

She does NOT want to use it for phone calls, she likes her old Nokia LOL. So there is NO sim card in it.

We just want her to be able to Facetime with the grandchildren.

We have Googled the crap out of this and everything we read says it works without a SIM card. But honestly even with a SIM card in (I used my own to try and activate it) we can not get it to activate.

I have gone to the apple sign-in page and verified the Apple ID and PW we have is valid and works. We can sign in and we see her account. The IPhone is running 13.4.1

1) On the phone we went to ITunes and APP store and we are able to sign in with her Apple ID

2) When you click on settings it is here name at the top of the screen and it is logged with her Apple ID

3) I can't get it to authenticate Facetime on the phone and accept her Apple ID and PW

3) We turned off imessage and facetime, restarted the phone, and still nothing. In fact it only allows you to turn them back on with a SIM card. With no SIm card in there is does not have the on-off slider.

Is it really this hard? Am I missing something?

Thanks.

iPhone 6s, iOS 13

Posted on Apr 22, 2020 2:05 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Eric Root

Level 10

685,221 points

Apr 23, 2020 7:36 AM in response to Taz_Tuff

As a test, have you tried using your Apple ID and password to see if that works?

Someone I know had this happen and I was able to sign in using my Apple ID. After a call to Apple Support and then being elevated to a tier 2 support person, it turned out it was a problem with their Apple ID. It took the software engineers 3-4 days to fix the problem. When calling Apple, make sure you tell them it is an Apple ID problem so you don't get charged.

You can also try signing in on another device/computer. There have been a couple of posts where people's device/computer was blocked. You will need to contact Apple for that problem also.

There is a contact link.

Apple ID - Official Apple Support.

Contact Apple for help with Apple ID account security - Apple Support. (The link doesn’t always load)

Get Support Work through the screens to get a chat option.

https://twitter.com/AppleSupport

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Answer 2

Taz_Tuff Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 23, 2020 8:53 AM in response to Eric Root

I called Apple Support. There was an issue with the ID, it logged in and was working but for facetime there was an issue, they fixed it and it is working.

Thanks for that, good call.

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