Cannot Send Message: MMS Messaging needs to be enabled to send this message

Went through the same issues. Tried all the usual tactics, including resetting network settings and confirming services with carrier. But I didn't want to reset all settings or wipe my phone. Too much of a hassle. But I figured out a solution.

Context: I had enabled a Flexiroam eSim for travelling purposes a while back. Wasn't using it, so I turned it off in Settings>>Cellular. Note that I did not actually delete/remove the secondary eSim. I only deactivated it. Ever since then, SMS messages to non-iPhone users have been acting wonky... lots of errors in sending and duplicates received by the recipient. And I recently realized that MMS messages weren't working. Got the "Unable to send" error. But "MMS Messaging" appeared enabled in Messages settings.

So... I re-activated my Secondary eSim. Now, all of a sudden, the MMS Messaging toggle appeared as "off" (despite it being on prior to this action). So I toggled it on. And all of a sudden, my MMS Messaging works perfectly.

I even again de-activated my Secondary eSim after the step above and confirm that MMS Messaging is still working. Yay!

Hope this helps others.

FIXED! Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset All Settings. Thanks for nothing, Apple and Verizon!! Wasn't a carrier problem and after months I finally found the right sequence of buttons to mess around with!!

Right?! So I spoke with someone from Apple Support yesterday, and she helped me pinpoint the issue (kind of) and find a solution. This post is basically what resolved it for me: MMS not working solved - Apple Community

I had reset all my settings multiple times, including doing factory resets, but I kept restoring from a previous back-up. The back-up is what seems to be causing the issue because it's essentially using the same settings I already had before doing the reset 🤪

Without going through each and every setting in the phone to pinpoint the one that is the problem child, the support agent said the best thing to do is to back up the things I want to save to iCloud (photos/notes/reminders/contacts/etc.), then reset the phone, sign in with my Apple ID, and sync the phone with iCloud to get those things back — without ever restoring my back-up.

So it's basically like I was able to sync some things from my iCloud and start fresh with others. A lot more work, but worth it to have finally found a solution that works!

Me too!! Did you ever get it resolved? Exact same situation with me (using eSIM abroad, removed it when I came back home). Can't send pictures to android phones and group messaging doesn't work. After probably 20 phone calls, Verizon said they can't help me and that it should work. MMS is enabled on their end, apparently. I reset network settings, factory reset the whole phone, everything. It's so annoying. If I can get a good deal on an Android during Black Friday, I'm jumping ship and I'll just return it if it doesn't work.

I'm having the same issue with Verizon. I've gone 15 rounds with our personal Account representative (we're a business!) and they keep sending us to Apple. We've troubleshooted all the options on the Verizon side all the way up to deleting the MMS service on the plan and re-adding it. Nothing is working. This is NOT a carrier issue, this is an Apple issue.

People saying it's a carrier issue are not reading the room at all.

While you are not wrong about that being a carrier feature, we have already sorted out that the carrier features are enabled for the purposes of this conversation.

Re-directing people to their carrier is not helpful. I've got the same issue and have been back and forth with both Verizon and Apple more than a dozen times, and I'm so far making more headway with Apple after beating the Verizon horse to death.

Please forget these easy answers, this is not a typical 'user error' situation.

Thank you SO much for this

I did, ive gone through basic support more times than I can count and have escalated to level 2 tech support 2-3 times. I can't get beyond that though, they just close my remedy ticket and say it should work even though it doesn't.

This same exact issue happened with me. I transferred to Spectrum mobile after having Verizon, went abroad, came back, and a few days later, my MMS stopped working. I get error codes when I try to send photos to Android users. And all my group chats with Android users send and receive messages individually, rather than to and from the group. iMessages work fine.

After weeks of troubleshooting with Spectrum and Apple support, I was told I had to upgrade or switch carriers. So, I upgraded to an iPhone 15. When I went to set it up, I signed in with my Apple ID, restored my back-ups, and it still wasn't working.

So, I reset everything, but this time, when I set it up, I did not sign in with my Apple ID. I skipped that part. And now it's fudging working. But now I have no idea how I'm supposed to set up my new phone with my Apple ID if that's what's causing my MMS issues???

go To settings > cellular> travel line turn off leave personal line on.

Once in settings > cellular > I'm not seeing travel line or personal line as options. Might there be another name or label? TIA

John_P_bhm wrote:

So I had an IPhone 11 for multiple years and then last year it stopped working with group messaging or sending gifs/pictures/video messages unless they were through iMessage.

The only thing that I can think of that caused this was that I got an eSim while traveling abroad around that same time. When I returned, I removed the eSim and continued with my Verizon plan, and that is when the MMS messaging error bagan.

I did a lot of troubleshooting, through every post I could find about MMS Messaging and group messaging. I called Verizon and they said that MMS was enabled on my plan.

I tried everything, so I finally gave up and decided to switch carriers to T-Mobile. I now have an iPhone 14 Pro with a T-Mobile Unlimited plan with MMS/Group messaging activated….. and it still is not letting me send messages.

I am wondering if this is because I set my new phone up using an iCloud back up for the iPhone 11. I don’t know when the issue began with my messaging, but at it was at some point in September of 2022.

I just don’t even know what to do anymore.

You'll need to work it out with T-mobile, MMS is a phone carrier feature, not Apples.

vtk5 wrote:

Me too!! Did you ever get it resolved? Exact same situation with me (using eSIM abroad, removed it when I came back home). Can't send pictures to android phones and group messaging doesn't work. After probably 20 phone calls, Verizon said they can't help me and that it should work. MMS is enabled on their end, apparently. I reset network settings, factory reset the whole phone, everything. It's so annoying. If I can get a good deal on an Android during Black Friday, I'm jumping ship and I'll just return it if it doesn't work.

And you'll still run into the same issue if you get an android, as MMS is a phone carrier feature not Apples so it isn't an issue with your iphone.

You need to escalate the issue with Verizon speak to a technician who can help.

What the heck! That’s so much hassle and inconvenience and money supposedly “expert” people told you to spend for literally no reason. Did you try resetting all settings? That’s what I did (mentioned in another reply somewhere) and it worked for me. Now my notifications are all screwed up though and some iMessages randomly go only to my computer :(