iPad 2 won’t activate because the activation server is temporarily unavailable

We are seeing an increased incidence of issues activating 9 year old iPad2 devices. If restart of your home router - or changing your DNS Server settings do not resolve the issue, you should directly contact Apple Support for assistance.

To restart you home router, disconnect power - then wait at least 30 seconds before restarting. When you router has rebooted (which may take several minutes), force-restart your iPad:

• On an iPad with a Home button: Press and hold the top button and the Home button at the same time. When the Apple logo appears, release both buttons.
• On an iPad with Face ID: Press and quickly release the volume up button, press and quickly release the volume down button, then press and hold the top button. When the Apple logo appears, release the button.

For recommended DNS servers (configured at your home router and/or your iPad), you might choose one of the following highly regarded Recursive DNS Providers (IPv4 and IPv6 addresses included below):

Quad9

9.9.9.9

149.112.112.112

2620:fe::fe

2620:fe::9

OpenDNS

208.67.222.222

208.67.220.220

2620:0:ccc::2

2620:0:ccd::2

Cloudflare+APNIC

1.1.1.1

1.0.0.1

2606:4700:4700::1111

2606:4700:4700::1001

This help page may also be helpful. Whilst references are to iPhone, the process is the same for iPad.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201407

Should it be necessary to escalate your issue to Apple Support, during the current exceptional global situation, the quickest route to engaging with Apple Support will be via the Contact Support link at top-right of this page.

Okay. That's good. So, what is going on with the iPad 2 activation server? My iPad failed 2 nights ago while I was watching a YouTube vid. The screen went blank and there was a message displayed that said I needed to activate my device.

I have attempted both 'Update' and 'Restore'. Now my iPad is in it's original new state and while I have a good wifi connection, and it is connected to my iMac (running Catalina), I get the 'activation server is temporarily unavailable' message.

I am experiencing the same activation difficulty for my iPad 2. After reading through everything posted, I am confused by your response. Did you activate your iPad 2 using iTunes? I no longer have iTunes on my computer as it is updated to the latest version of Mac OSX. Do you mean you used an older version of Apple software - prior to their switch to Music and using Finder to manage iOS devices? I have not had iTunes for a year or so now.

Make sure that you have already dowloaded and installed iTunes on your computer before you start.

To connect your iPad to your computer, simply use the Lightning to USB cable, that you use to charge your iPad, to connect your iPad to a Lightning port of your PC or Mac Computer.

"Make sure that you have already dowloaded and installed iTunes on your computer before you start."

Does your comment mean that Finder is not able to manage an older iPad? I do not have iTunes anymore and am not really interested in downloading 15 month old software when I have a current version of Music. I thought that iOS device management was now fully supported by Finder. Is that not the case?

This is so weird... So about half an hour ago, I just saw my iPad 2 (+3G) which I use as a baby monitor just rebooting. And after reboot, It mentioned I had to activate my iPad. It still asked for my passcode,

I tried both using Wi-Fi. USB activation through Finder on Catalina, and at last using my personal hotspot on my iPhone (just to verify it using another ISP). Whatever I do, it just times out.

So I still have all data on my iPad, I can access it through my Mac. But out of nowhere I need to activat it, which basically fails...

None of the community contributors have any direct knowledge as to what is happening with iPad2 and Apple’s “back-end” Activation servers. We are, however, aware of increased frequency of reports in regard to activation failures affecting iPad2.

You would be best advised to escalate your problem directly to Apple Support to seek assistance. The link to Contact Support can be found at top-right of this page.

So I solved it! Apparently during activation, it also starting asking for a pincode to unlock the simcard. While the simcard no longer has an active subscription (so basically a dead simcard), it did make the iPad not respond anymore (well I was able to turn it off) after typing in the pincode. So I needed to restart the iPad.

After removing the simcard, I hoped the activation issue would be gone... but it still timed out by using WiFi or through usb connected to my Mac.

So after a while, I just decided to put back the inactive simcard, and this time the iPad was still working after inserting the pincode. All I did after that was selecting the known WiFi, and ‘next’ and voila, it activated again. :-)

So besides having issues activating it, the problem started when the iPad just randomly wanted to be reactivated.

i have many iPad devices, but I didn’t want to get rid of this old baby because it works perfectly as a baby monitor.

Anyways, I’m happy it works again.

Apple needs to create alternative in cases where getting iTune is rare.. I am a resident in kenya with very low knowledge on computers and the very people who know about them are too expensive... They also need to surprise me with an iPhone.... The best one as a gift.... I love iphones but i cant afford...please get me on +254745356568

i just succesed activated my ipad 2

connect to itune

press home button and top button hold until your ipad show logo itune and usb

update your ipad

ativate your ipad , try 2 or 3 time while your ipad still connect to itun

i skip the activation code with sim card , because it keeep teling the code incorrect

thanks to the apple support men

Have you tried activation while the iPad is attached to a computer running iTunes? When I got that message it was easy to reactivate my iPad 2 through iTunes.

Is this iPad a WiFi AND cellular model iPad?

How do I attach iPad to a computer so I can check itunes

What, precisely, are you having difficulty in working out?

A cable has two ends, each with a plug that connects to either an iPad or USB socket.