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

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!

Not sure if this will help anyone else, but I was having the same issue with my iPhone 14 Pro that I ported my number to. Would only show the temp number for iMessages and FaceTime, in addition to my Apple ID. I kept getting the SIM card association message in relation to my ported number - that it couldn’t be used as no SIM card in an Apple device associated with that number.

I read everything and tried all solutions. Nothing worked. I reset network settings, hard reset the phone, turned messages on and off. Spoke to support at both my carrier and Apple. Frustrated I got looking around settings and noticed one for Phone.

I looked at that. It listed “my number” and had the temp one there. But it let me edit it to my ported number. I did that and went back to messages, FaceTime, etc and presto, my ported number was showing as being available for iMessage and FaceTime.

Thought I’d share here in case it helps anyone else, as it’s not a step mentioned anywhere else.

i swapped sims yesterday and it's telling that the sim is no associated with an apple device, it worked yesterday but i removed the number as i am now waiting for my SIM with my old number so i have now tried again - and nothing, same error message over and over, tried a new SIM and it worked but i want to make sure i can use my old number when that sim arrives tomorrow? Any ideas, it's driving me mad

Same issue with my iPhone 13 Pro max, no problems until today. Can still make calls, send texts etc, just iMessage and FaceTime not working

Tried updating to 17 to see if that helped, no luck

Seems like somethings going wrong at Apple

Are you using a prepaid sim, if yes i can solve your problem. I was facing a similar issue since long and it was resolved recently after few upgradation from my own analysis. Let me know if you using a prepaid sim with a monthly fixed plan.

I had the same issue and Apple support couldn't provide a solution for over 1 week, for an iPhone SE with standard SIM card.

Then I came across this community discussion by searching for "AppleID imessage SIM block".

Specifically, my issue was that on the [Settings > #YourName# "Apple ID, iCloud, ..." > "Login and Security"] I could see my AppleID and my phone number, but below the phone number the message "This phone number cannot be used in iMessage and FaceTime...you need a SIM card associated with an Apple device" appeared.

Reading through and following approximately the notes of user manishr15, I did the following and the issue was solved for me:

• Turn off iMessage from [Settings > Messages > iMessage]

• Turn off FaceTime from [Settings > FaceTime]

• Turn off wifi and turn on the mobile network (4G or 5G)

• Remove SIM and re-insert SIM. Check that the 4G or 5G mobile network works normally again.

I then did these 3 extra steps just in case, which I thought could be useful - but perhaps not necessary:

•• Went to [Settings > #YourName# "Apple ID, iCloud, ..." > "Login and Security"] and removed my phone number, then added the same phone number again at the same place. (Note: Make sure that you can still receive the security code via SMS or through another trusted device.)

•• Shutdown the iPhone and turn it back on.

•• Checked again that the 4G or 5G mobile network works normally.

So, at this point resumed the notes of user manishr15

• Go to [Settings > Messages] and turn on iMessages.

• Then below on "Send and Receive", I pressed on my AppleID as was shown, and then selected "Use Other AppleID".

This last selection -which seemed rather unreasonable and is not mentioned elsewhere- then restored normal connection to iMessage, OK!

Hope this helps.

I think I figured it out.

Settings > Messages > send & receive

make sure the phone number you have is checked. It may need to verify, but doesn’t take very long at all.

now when you go to

settings > Apple ID, iCloud+, media & purchases > Name, Phone Numbers, Email

the phone number should appear. Without any issues. It may take a bit of time for it to register… but once I texted from another apple device over to the phone… everything was working fine.

hope it works for you too.

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 ? :(

Hey I was facing the same issue. I first removed my number from iMessage and signed out from facetime and iMessage. Then i again signed in and added a top-up balance in my carrier/sim card, if you are in an unlimited plan or similar with your carrier it won’t happen i think. You need to top up a small balance and then again try to select your phone number.I think apple will charge a small amount for confirmation using message then it will connect to your number.It worked for me.

idk how to fix the “an error occured during activation” on imessage. i keep following steps in yt and google to fix it but it diesnt work at all. i’ve tried to update ios, and reset network setting but it still didn’t work. please help me fix this

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! 🤞

I swapped to a new carrier last Friday, my number ported over Monday, I still have no iMessage or FaceTime, if I use a different sim it works so it’s not my device, if I put my sim in a different iPhone I get the same error so it’s definitely my sim, I have tried every guide I can find online … only thing I haven’t tried is a factory reset of my device but I can’t see what change that would make when it is the same result in other devices

This looked promising but even though it allowed me to enter my number and hit the "Save" button, it did not actually save it. Still stuck with the new SIM phone number as apposed to my exsting phone number..... any ideas?

Thank you but already did , as i mentioned before.

no problem with carrier, as long as using android phone works just fine. But using iphone, sms sending is no longer available. I think it has to do with Sms center number SMSC, which cannot be set manually or eitherways on iphone.

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