My iMessage still says "Waiting for activation..."

I owe a big THANK YOU to everyone on this blog, especially K Jaffe. After days of being plauged with iMessage/FaceTime problems (triggered by Daylight Saving Time), and trying out literally everything I could find on this discussion post, I finally got it fixed.

In case I can be of assistance to anyone, I followed the following steps in this order:

1. Connected my phone to my Apple computer
2. Opened up iTunes on my computer
3. Updated to iOS 7.1
4. Once the iPhone re-booted, I went into iTunes on my computer again and manually backed up my iPhone to iCloud
5. On my iPhone, I went to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings
6. Upon the reset, I set my iPhone up as a new phone. Don't worry: You are able to connect your phone to your iCloud account, but, as K Jaffe notes above, it is crucial that you set your phone up as a new phone.
7. On my Apple computer, I also selected my phone as a new phone in iTunes .
8. I tried connecting iMessage to my Apple ID, but I got the iMessage Activation error, "Could not sign in, please check your network connection and try again". So, I went to this Apple support page and made sure I abided by all the guidelines.
9. Because iMessage still wouldn't work, I followed the recommendations on this Apple Support Communities page, by going on my iPhone to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.
10. Upon the re-boot of my iPhone, my iMessage and FaceTime finally worked!

If, after these 10 steps, you restore your iPhone using your iTunes on your computer, it is possible that your iMessage/FaceTime problems will return (just as K Jaffe predicted). If this happens to you, the only way to ensure that iMessage/FaceTime will work again is to repeat steps 5-10 and manually download all the apps back onto your iPhone from the App Store. This is what I had to do -- and it was definitely a pain -- but with a lack of any other solution, I had no choice. 😟

Duplicate posting. My apologies.

Duplicate posting. My apologies.

CORRECTION:

In my previous posting I noted that:

If, after these 10 steps, you restore your iPhone using your iTunes on your computer, it is possible that your iMessage/FaceTime problems will return (just as K Jaffe predicted). If this happens to you, the only way to ensure that iMessage/FaceTime will work again is to repeat steps 5-10 and manually download all the apps back onto your iPhone from the App Store.

It turns out I was incorrect. After Step 7 (or Step 10), you can actually restore your iPhone using iTunes and get your iMessage/FaceTime working again. All you need to do is go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings. After your phone re-boots and you log into your iMessage again using your Apple ID, iMessage/FaceTime should work.

I've never bothered to post on these boards before, but found the facetime / iMessage thing so annoying that I had to post the solution.

As a side note, I gave my old phone to my mum. Because I wanted her to have copies of my apps, I didn't wipe the phone. This then messed up WhatsApp, Hailo and other apps. Doh!

hello ,

I did all of this but still waiting for activation . i restore the software 7.1 2 times and set up as a new iphone but every time still waiting for activation.

Any new help

I did all of this but still waiting for activation . i restore the software 7.1 2 times and set up as a new iphone but every time still waiting for activation.

Hey remonisaac,

Did you test iMessage and/or FaceTime to see if they are working? I neglected to mention that my phone still says "Waiting for activation..." in the Settings for both iMessage and FaceTime, yet both apps are functioning perfectly.

Also, I'm not sure if this did anything, but I added an alternate email address to my Apple ID. I also played with the Date & Time settings and ensured that my phone time was "Set Automatically" (make sure Location Services is switched on and activated for "Setting Time Zone").

Hope this helps!

its didn't work with me

i restore 11 times software but problem still

its an apple server problem

as i changed with another sim card but its activated on the same carrier

then do sim swap for my account but problem still exist

Remonisaac

I have the same problem.

iMessage and facetime says "waiting for activation". Also reset the phone and did not work.

also change the sim and tampcoo worked.

I have two iphone with the same problem. I think it's apple server problem.

someone called with apple to get an answer on this?.

I'm from Costa Rica and there's no phone support.

I'm having the same issue activating when i change my sim. But when i try putting my old sim again imessage and facetime activates w/o any issues...

Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and experience here.

I have been having issues with iMessage activation before, and I wanted to share the information and experience I gathered from it and put all the solutions in one place.

I've created this video tutorial with a step-by-step procedure that will fix most iMessage and FaceTime activation issues, including being stuck on "Waiting for activation..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu7K7XLlZ6E

Because it covers most situations, you might find that some of the steps are unnecessary for your particular issue, but it doesn't hurt to do them all.

I hope you'll find it useful 🙂

Plugged my iPhone (which was having the same problem) into my Macbook Pro and it immediatly activated. I had tried everything!

I'm now having that problem. What did you manage to do that helped?

Follow the step by step from 3NU. When you've erased and restarted your phone, manually transfer your apps and music from iTunes to your phone. Don't reload your phone as it was before the upgrade or the problem can remain.

Thank You!!!! Correcting the time zone was the fix! I appreciate everyone's advise