Change telephone number in iMessage

😕 Anyone has other suggestion? Tried all different combination, still doesn't work.

If I were to do a factory restore and set it up as a new phone, my phone number isn't listed at all (setting > messages > receive at). Only email address is listed.

My phone number works fine though. Phone call, text messages, internet, all works fine.

I am having trouble activating iMessage and Facetime, I recently changed my network provider from Airtel to Vodafone india. iMessage was working fine with the old provider Airtel. I got a new number with vodafone and am using that with my 4S.

I have switched off iMessage and Facetime before switching sims from airtel to vodafone, But now when ever I try to acivate imessage on my new number it is still trying to verfy the old number from Airtel instead of Vodafone and eventually fails.. I have tried it a lot of times and and the bill shows a lot of international SMS chanrges but the stuff does not work.. It is as if the old number has been hardwired to the phone, even though in India all iphones are unlocked.

Then I did a complete reset of the iPhone by erasing all content and resetting as a new phone and not from the backup, now iMessage and Facetime are activated in my apple id but not on my mobile number. The receive at field just has the apple id and not the mobile number anymore and I can add other email ids but not the mobile number, but the message I get below the iMessage button is that activation unsuccessful try again. Has Apple stopped activating iMessage and Facetime against the mobile number or is it some thing I need to check with the mobile service provider Vodafone. (which I and they are clueless right now)

Whatever the issue Apple definitely has to work on making the whole activation process easier and simple, similar to whatsapp. Being charged for international SMS is no fun if the services dont get activated.

Thank you,

Nishanth

If none of these are working...if you know someone with an iPhone 4; ask them can you put your sim card into there phone and change your number while in their phone (iPhone 4 allows you to change number). Then when you put it back into your phone, the number you changed it to should be there! :-)

Hi Natasha,

Steps;

- Get iPhone 4 (NOT 4S)

- Put your sim in

- Go to Settings/Phone

- Where it says "My Number"; you'll be able to click it and change the number (unlike in iPhone 4S)

- Press OK

- Take your sim out and put it back in your iPhone 4S

- Your number will be changed to whatever number you typed when your sim was in the iPhone 4

Let me know if you have any problems. :-)

I have similar issues and tried almost every means mentioned in this post and other posts. The final solution that really works for me is to request the carrier to issue a new SIM card for me and then everything returns to normal. Hope this helps.

Messages/received at/apple ID

Once you have tapped on apple ID ,sign out and sign back in...... Will reset for you with original apple ID email address unless you want add new address and it will automatically pick up the mobile number from your sim card.

I've had a torrid time with a similar situation. Got an iPhone 5 on a new network, new number, totally seperate from my 4S, which I'm going to sell on. Signed in to iCloud/iMessage with new phone, but could not for the life of me persuade it to get rid of the old phone number.

The answer is non-obvious until you hear it - sign out of FaceTime as well!!!

Sign out of iMessage and FaceTime on all devices you use them on then sign back in. FaceTime and iMessage use a common push notification basis so you must sign out of both on all your devices. Once I did that then my old number disappeared instantly!

Hope this helps.

hi, i sold my iphone and for some reason my ipad is coming up as the blokes number that brought my iphone, i can see all his conversations and just been talking to his gf, how do i change that and put my original ipad number in?

My sister-in-law was having the problem described here. What was causing it?

Her old iPhone was still signed into her iCloud account.

After logging out of her old iPhone, she was able to have her number properly mapped to her new iPhone.

Was having this issue and assumed it was a problem with the deactivation of T-Mobile's temp number having not fully completed or something. After troubleshooting with T-Mobile tech support and then working with another fellow iPhone user (who found this support thread) it became clear that this is an issue where the Temp number was still being held onto by some of the settings in iMessage (Messages) and FaceTime. Thanks Serena87!

i have an ipad (gen 3) and had an iphone. set them both up using the same phone number even though the phone one was work and the ipad personal.

i've now had to change to blackberry (the new z10 is quite nice).

the issue is unless i disable the phone number associated with imessage and facetime i cannot receive texts from people using iphones on my blackberry.

how can i change the phone number on my appleid so that it is my personal one and not my work one allowing me to text friends, etc who have apple products using my ipad (as opposed to simply using the email feature)?

Okay, so here's the solution that worked for me, hopefully it will work for most of you too, especially for those who cannot change their "receive at" mobile numbers when changing SIMs between different country networks.

It's not at all abovious at first, but after rooting around in the iMessages settings on my iPhone, it did resolve my problem of a "sticking" phone number.

I had a UK number initially registered with iMessage, but then needed to swap to a Nepali one for a while.

You have to change a location setting in iMessage to reflect the home country of the network you are changing or have changed to.

To do so, go:

Settings > Messages > Send & Receive

At the top, click on your Apple ID (an email address). A menu pops up, select "Change Location" and you are presented with a long list of country names. Select the name of the country that your current SIM card was issued in or is native to.

Next go back to the initial Messages settings page and then slide off the 'iMessage" button, wait a moment or two, then slide back on again.

After hopefully a short while, the change is verified. Go back through "Send & Receive" and check to see if your current number is now registered under "You can be reached by iMessage at:"

Do this for every time you swap a SIM, especially across international boundaries.

If you have an iPad, do the same in there, and if you have a Mac or Macbook running the now native Messages app, try changing that setting too, it does have the option. Keeps everything properly synced up, no more split messages or missings sides of conversations when conversations are viewed from different devices.

Another tip, if you only want to receive iMessages sent to your phone number on your iPhone, then deselect all the other email addresses that are enabled to recieve iMessages on your device, leaving just the phone number. On other devices, select only the email address or addresses you want to be specifically reached at on that particular device. That way you can ensure that only certain addresses are are associated with certain devices, as in say if you only want work related iMessages going to you iPad, and more personal ones going to your iPhone etc.

So, just saying this is what works for me, hopefully it will for you too.

I'm going to cross-post the above every time I come across this question on this forum.

It worked for me too.

My situation was a little different to those mentioned already. I upgraded my and my partners phones to iPhone 5's recentlty. We only have one itunes account for music so have put the same account on both phones. This and the fact that the new sim cards were sent with the wrong phones which we only found out after one of the sim cards were activated in the wrong phone. This meant that my partner was receiveing all of my imessages. All other content was seperate - email, phone calls, mms and texts but imessages were carrierd across to both phones.

I have sorted as I stated by using the switch off imessage and facetime and then re-activating them again.

The only thing I need to do is work out if I can have 2 seperate Apple ID's linked to the same itunes account.

Thanks all! I am the least tech-savvy person, thought I'd have to ask carrier to update my outgoing number in iMessage, but after reading this thread was able to quickly fix on my own (turned off FaceTime & iMessage, then logged out of Apple ID. Logged back into Apple ID, then turned FaceTime & iMessage back on. Voilà, my correct number now appears in both apps :) Oh, & I have an iPhone 5.

Thanks again!

Ok I've being reading through this post because I've being having a major problem with my iMessage showing my email and not my number. And I have to say that I e found the 100% guaranteed way to change your iMessage number. I thought that it was be caused I changed my number that iMessage didn't recognise my new sim. But no. The solution is FAR simpler and easier to fix.

Step 1. Forget everything that you have read on here about changing a setting, or putting your sim into someone else's phone, or twirling round on the spot three times then running through a field backward screaming IM A PURPLE BANANA! Just no!

Step 2. Go into your contacts, either through the app or the phone. Makes no difference

Step 3. Look up your business card. You cannot miss it, it will be your full name, be a different colour to the rest of your contacts and have a silhouette on the far right hand side.

Step 4. Once you found it click on it (don't worry you won't call your self) and then click on edit. Now if you've changed numbers at any point then your old number might still be saved here if it is go straight to step 6. If not then wait till step 7

Step 6. Delete your old number from your contact card.

Step 7. With your old number gone from your iPhone compleatly, look for the field that says iPhone. This is where you enter you number. Not in work or home or mobile, (or cell for our American and Canadian friends) only in the iPhone field.

Step 8. Save.

And the should be it. Once you've saved it just go to the settings for iMessage and check to see if your iMessage number has being changed. You don't need to turn anything off, you don't need to take your SIM card out. You don't need to change any settings. Just follow these 8 simple steps and you should be fine.

Now if you don't have a business card set up and you don't know how to set one up, then I'm sorry but that how to will be a different post entirely.