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

It seems that my phone can't detect sim card, this message appears in appleid stating that the added phone number does not connect to the Apple device even though the sim card already exists and the same number has not changed anything, I contacted Apple support and did not solve the problem, I tried almost all the solutions, so that I made full configurations for the device and the settings, and it's no use… check photo.


[Edited by Moderator]

iPhone 14, iOS 17

Posted on Sep 22, 2023 2:43 AM

44 replies

Oct 22, 2023 2:47 PM in response to zraineri

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!

Oct 25, 2023 7:01 PM in response to Community User

Ok so the ESim thing I did literally worked for two days.

i found a helpful thread on Reddit, that I did. Basically I deleted my old ESIM and downloaded a new one.

I have AT&T but I’m sure Verizon may have something similar as well.


AT&T only

If you recently transferred your iPhone from physical SIM to ESim and are getting the "iMessage activation unsuccessful" error. Here are the steps to get it to work:

  1. Go to "settings" > "cellular" > "delete Esim"
  2. Log on to your MyATT account and select on your device then find the "options and settings" then select "manage your sim" then tap on "Get new ESim". It will send a notification to your iphone asking to download a new ESim tap yes/approve.
  3. Under "cellular" it should say "activating"
  4. Restart your iphone (volume up, down then hold the power button).
  5. Turn the device back on after 30 seconds.
  6. Go to "settings" tap on your profile then tap on "name, phone numbers and email" under "reachable at" either delete the number that is there or hit "edit" and add the number over again.
  7. Go to "messages" in the settings and toggle it off and back on. You should be able to then go to "send and received" then tap on your phone number and the blue checkmark should appear.
  8. Then go to "facetime" and toggle that on and select your number under "you can be reached by facetime at".


Oct 26, 2023 10:51 AM in response to Community User

Having the same issue on iPhone 14 Pro! iMessage and FaceTime give an activation error and will not verify my number. I just bought this phone 2 days ago and number was ported over yesterday to Verizon. I spent all of yesterday trying all suggestions such as restart device, log out of Apple ID, add number to iCloud, etc. I also removed the number and signed out of my old iPhone. Only thing I haven’t done is reset esim. My device is eSIM only. I reached out to Apple and they said this was a “common issue” and advised me to wait 48hr for the problem to resolve itself. I eventually gave up and a couple hours later I tried toggling it on and to my surprise it activated. I could FaceTime, send iMessage, etc for the first time. I started feeling relieved and maybe thought I was overreacting but a couple hours after that it disconnected again lol. And this time no matter what I do I cannot get it to turn on again. This is so incredibly frustrating especially since it now connected once and just won’t connect again. Really hoping this is solved soon

Nov 22, 2023 9:38 AM in response to Community User

I have had this issue for over 2 months now on my new iphone 15 pro. Its not a cellular problem as other people with the same cellular provider and the same plan are easily using imessage and facetime. I had a chat with the apple costumer care as well and i didnt get any solution. What might be the problem here?? please someone help me out with this….

Nov 23, 2023 6:08 AM in response to Community User

Apple SOLVED this for me after 3 weeks of attempts. She said my number was still "blocked" from being ported in and had to verify who I was by texting me a code and then unblocked it. iMessage instantly started working without turning off my phone or anything.


The full story:

I got the number started on Google Voice in order to have a local area code for my business. Once I was ready to start paying for the additional phone line, I ported it into my provider - Pure Talk who uses AT&T towers. Initially, phone calls worked but no iMessage. It would attempt to send in blue, then fail, then switch to green and send just fine. I thought iMessage was the only issue so I wasn't especially concerned to get it solved right away. Then I started getting phone calls from friends and potential clients asking if I had received any of their texts as I wasn't responding. I then learned that I was not even receiving texts from some people, but they were also unaware that their texts were not getting to me. With this being my work number and having new potential clients trying to contact me and receiving no response I was becoming another contractor who does not respond. I called Pure Talk's tech support every few days for at least a few weeks, tried the whole list of resetting and turning on and off that they always make you go through. I actually ended up losing a bunch of photos from the who process which is still pretty aggravating. At one point I couldn't even send or receive texts from my wife for a couple days. I had been on with Apple support while screen sharing and the first person I got could not figure it out either. Finally I got the right lady who knew exactly what they issue was and fixed it in less than 5 minutes. I'm not on social media and not someone who's always got my phone in my face, but this really shut me down for a few weeks. When you rely on a phone to do business when you're self-employed, no communication eventually means no income. Think twice about porting a number in that was originated from Google Voice or anything else that's a land line I guess.

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

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