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iMessage activation: 'Waiting' then 'Error

My iMessage is not working it’s showing waiting for activation and later it will show activation error

iPhone 11 Pro Max, iOS 26

Posted on Feb 28, 2026 6:01 AM

Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 28, 2026 1:01 PM

Perhaps a long shot:


Do you have a 3rd party VPN installed, even if you are not using it? If so, delete the VPN profile in Settings/General/VPN & Device Management/VPN, then restart your device. Don't just turn it off; delete the profile. Updates sometimes "break" VPN, and it needs to be removed. If that fixes it, you can try reinstalling VPN, but probably shouldn't.

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 28, 2026 1:01 PM in response to Samrichie689

Perhaps a long shot:


Do you have a 3rd party VPN installed, even if you are not using it? If so, delete the VPN profile in Settings/General/VPN & Device Management/VPN, then restart your device. Don't just turn it off; delete the profile. Updates sometimes "break" VPN, and it needs to be removed. If that fixes it, you can try reinstalling VPN, but probably shouldn't.

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iMessage activation: 'Waiting' then 'Error

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