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iMessage activation Unsuccessful

I've updated my Factory Unlocked iPhone 4 to iOS 5.0 this morning.


Everything's fine but I'm having a hard time Activating iMessage and Facetime. I have created an iCloud email. I've made that my Primary Apple ID and attached it to my iMessage.


Whenever I try to turn it on it says 'Waiting for Activation' and then after a long time, it says Activation Unsuccessful.


I'm on Vodafone India Network operator (GSM). Also, when I try to add another email, it says that the email is already in use if it's an Apple ID. If I create a new email account (one which is not an apple id), iMessage sends me a verification email and after I click 'Verify Now' it opens the Apple ID verification page which asks for my Apple ID and Password to complete verification. Now How can I have a password if the email is not yet registered with an Apple ID.


Also, there's no phone number tab in my iMessage 'Receive At' option. And I never got any confirmation email on my Primary Apple ID (iCloud ID).


I've even tried the following:

- Reset network settings

- Restarted the phone several times

- Tried over Wi-fi and 3G

- Waited for a long time.


I'll really appreciate any kind of help activating my iMessage and Facetime. Thanks!

iPhone 4

Posted on Oct 13, 2011 1:37 AM

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Posted on Oct 14, 2011 10:00 AM

I got it to work. Finally. After 2 days of failed attempts and countless hours of google, I figured it out myself.


I put my iPhone in DFU mode. (Just google how to put your phone in DFU). And then did a clean restore of iOS 5. Now Facetime & iMessage are working great!

17 replies

Nov 10, 2014 12:57 PM in response to Fenerium

Thanks a lot, this work for me, my carrier had 2 short message center numbers, the default one was not working with activation, (this problem was since January 2014), when I changed the number to the other one it was activated successfully (both the iMessage and Facetime). Finally, the number of my phone number was listed in both iMessage and Facetime, and working normally.

iMessage activation Unsuccessful

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