iMessage won't activate my phone number on new phone
I switched from Sprint to Verizon last night and my new iPhone 12 couldn't activate iMessage with my phone number. My number has always been linked to my iCloud, but when I went into Settings, I couldn't select it from the Messages/iMessage "Send & Receive" settings.
Verizon and Apple helped me troubleshoot for hours and I kept receiving the error: "iMessage Activation - An error occurred during activation. Try again." Apple advised that new phones could take up to 24 hours to link to iMessage.
Hours went by and the activation error continued. When the 24 hours were almost up, I tried linking my number to iMessage one last time by:
- turning off my iMessage
- turning off my cellular data for a few seconds
- turning my iMessage on and off a few times
iMessage FINALLY recognized my number with TWO minutes remaining in the 24 hour window =). It
seems like changing carriers caused this issue, but that's just my assumption.