You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Forest Ray Author

Level 1

86 points

iPhone 12 stuck verifying phone number

My iPhone 12 pro, running iOs 14.1 has been stuck verifying my phone number for almost a day now. I wasn't getting messages after transferring data from my prior phone (iPhone 7), so I added my number in Settings>General>Messages. Since then, I've tried:

hard rebooting with the older device on, off, and on airplane mode (upwards of 10 times),
plugging iPhone 12 into laptop and rebooting from iTunes,
removed the number from Messages (in settings), restarted and added it back in

What else is missing? Anyone else having this problem? This is very frustrating...

Posted on Oct 24, 2020 8:35 AM

Top-ranking reply

Forest Ray Author

Level 1

86 points

Posted on Oct 31, 2020 11:16 AM

I seem to have solved this - it was the network settings from my telecoms provider. I called T-Mobile and a technician said that my carrier settings won't change over to the new device automatically (annoying...). He asked for the phone's IMEI, found in Settings>General>About, did something on his terminal and said that it was all set. The call dropped, as I had to call from my old device, and now the new phone seems to be fully operational.

Rather frustrating having to figure that out on my own, but hopefully this works for the rest of you as well.

Cheers!

View in context

Similar questions

39 replies

Sutphen

Level 1

4 points

Mar 16, 2021 8:50 PM in response to Forest Ray

I did the Activate now pamphlet that came with the new phone, going to att.com/getstarted. Result: No Joy--phone number still frozen in "verifying" mode in Facetime and Message, lots of error messages.

After hours of googling and trying offered solutions, then talking to AT&T customer service (they were helpful with some issues) and searching for answers at my AT&T account support center to remedy this issue, I just happened to read in this forum about the Phone Trade-in "Miracle Cure."

Sure enough when I registered my old phone with the AT&T Phone Trade-in program, the new phone was no longer in frozen "verifying. . . " mode. That's my saga. . . .might work for some of you. Namaste.

Arway

Level 1

4 points

Mar 19, 2021 12:33 PM in response to Forest Ray

Had this happened to me and just got it resolved. I had to contact my carrier's customers support line and they representative had to update my IMEI number (Settings-General-About-Scroll down to IMEI) and my SIM card number. For those who don't know, if you look in the "Manuel packet" Apple give you a little pin so you can put your SIM card in (if you already had an iPhone), however, if you SIM card doesn't fit and/or isn't working, the customer service representative has to update their system to reflect the new SIM card that came in the iPhone 12.

Hope this helps.

Mar 31, 2021 8:43 AM in response to Forest Ray

I had this same problem! Tried everything. If you have AT&T, call from a different number than the phone you’re having trouble with, and have them send updates to your new phone. That should take care of it!

Ava_39

Level 1

13 points

Oct 29, 2020 8:41 PM in response to brendab909

Have you had any luck yet? I just got my new iPhone 12 today and the same thing is happening to me.

iMJ12

Level 1

14 points

Oct 31, 2020 11:10 AM in response to Forest Ray

I have the same problem. Why hasn't Apple responded?

iMJ12

Level 1

14 points

Oct 31, 2020 11:12 AM in response to Forest Ray

My iMessage still is green and have the similar issues.

Nov 6, 2020 12:08 PM in response to Forest Ray

My carrier is T-Mobile. I just called them, and they said it had to do with Sim Card activation. So they activated it on their end—took like 10 mins and it works perfectly now.

Nov 10, 2020 7:36 PM in response to Forest Ray

My wife and I both called T-mobile, they activated the sim and both our phones are still 'activating'... I could see if this was 2007.

jsknerf

Level 1

4 points

Nov 11, 2020 6:35 PM in response to brendab909

Hi! I just had the same problem when upgrading from 11 to 12 pro. My carrier is T-Mobile. They had to activate the SIM card in the phone. I did it through mobile app chat, but you can call too.