you must have a sim associated with an apple device for to be used for imessage and facetime

Hello everyone, I had the same issue and SOLVED IT :) (iPhone XS) here's what I've done: First under Settings -> Apple ID -> Name, Phone Numbers, Email: below Name I clicked Edit and added the phone number. Than I went to iMessage and saw the phone number show up there with the SIM card error message. All it took after was to turn off my phone and turn it back on. Now my iMessages can be sent via phone number or email. It works. Hope this helps someone.

Hi all! My phone had the same issue, just spent 30min with Apple support only to come up with must download new software. I have that now and still did not work. Tried adding my phone number did not work either. It did not recognize my sim. On a whim, I decided to activate my ESim, and that worked!! Now I can send from my cell phone. Would definitely try it and see. I have an Apple 13Pro

Settings> Cellular>ESim.

it takes like a minute to verify but after that everything worked!

Hope this helps!

I had similar issue with my number. Turns out i had an old Apple ID and the number was associated with that. I deleted that account and after deletion confirmation tried the number again for iMessage and it went smoothly.

Do this

1) Disable phone wifi

2) Remove sim, reinsert in phone and then let phone use your sim carrier data.

3) Go to setting? AppleID,iCLoud,Media & Pur> Name , phone number, Email> Edit ,...add your phone number with country code

3)Go to setting>messages> enable imessage and select phone number.

This should resolves this issue.

Cheers!

I followed these instructions: link, and they helped me immensely. It's simply signing out in 'Settings -> Messages' & 'Settings -> FaceTime' on all your devices and then signing in on your iPhone first. After that, the 'Send & Receive' section in 'Settings -> Messages' should display your new phone number above your email (previously, only the email was displayed). I hope this helps you as much as it helped me! 🤞

This issue affected me after the update to ios 17. After multiple attempts to fix including using apple on-line help only a complete reset to factory settings resolved the problem.

I had the same problem with my number not saving when I pressed save but managed to fix it. I had FaceTime and iMessage already turned off. I changed my number from the one it thinks the sim is to nothing by backspacing al of it and saving as it let me do that. My number was also already saved to the ported number on my Apple ID. I then turned iMessage back on and it worked!

Can you make phone calls from the phone using the number referenced in the screen shot?

SMS is a carrier feature. You will need to work through this with your carrier.

I got this issue after switching my provider. I was able to fix the issue by turning off and on iMessage from the settings. iPhone 13 Max Pro running iOS 16.6.1

Does the SIM work for other apps? Can you make a cellular phone call? Do you have access to cellular data?

If the SIM does not work, you may have an issue. While you can use iMessage from a phone without a SIM, there are limitations. The phone needs to be able to send an international SMS in order to activate iMessage. Once that is done, you can remove the SIM. However, if iMessage ever becomes deactivated, which can happen if it doesn't connect to data for several days, the process will need to be repeated.

Go to

Settings > Phone > My number.

Enter your number if not entered or check if the number is correct. Then you should get the option to activate the imeassage by your number. Once activated the error should go away.

This will work.

I am puzzled by that message completely. I used to use an iPhone for Facetime that had no SIM card at all. I used it as an iPad Touch.

Your image was removed because it showed personal information. I do not know what it displayed. Is the SIM card detected by the device at all?

Same here, i can receive sms but cannot send sms.

Also, imessage cannot be activated. Couldn’t find support neither from apple or network carrier.

As long as i can receive phonecalls and sms, the network provider said it’s nothing wrong with sim or network services.

I also made a SIM replacement, sim reset, nothing worked.

Tried also to change SMSC number provided by network operator using an android phone (on android it works changing it manually), and it works, SMS can be sent from that android phone. But when i put sim back into iphone, the error is still displayed on iphone, no sms and no imessage activation possible.

The Apple support operator did not know what SMSC number is, i tried to explain also that in the past, until on ios13 i guess, there was a combo of digits that could help set the SMSC on iphone.

Nothing worked so far and it’s really annoying ‘cuz i used SMS for parking fees and bus tickets, i really need this.

Clues, anyone ? :(

If you can make phone calls and send regular messages it's not a carrier issue