Change telephone number in iMessage

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.

Thank you Chik, for both the iMessage and FaceTime solutions. Worked for me, and ended an evening of frustration with triumphant victory. Wish there was some way I could buy you a beer!

Your earlier post:

"I changed my network, and my mobile number recently. Had the old number in my iMessage preferences. All I needed to do, was turn iMessage off. Restart phone. Turn iMessage on. No resetting or restoring. FWIW, I needed to do the same thing in the FaceTime settings."

hi

like everyone else in this thread, i changed from 1 SIM to another SIM, and could not get iMessage to activate to the new SIM.

in my case, the new SIM number was being read correctly (and since I am using iPhone 5 there was no way to enter a different one anyway). but it would not actually add the new SIM number and always failed at activation.

the old SIM number was also always appearing (greyed) as the number associated with that apple id.

apple has a a Support Article that says to dissassociate a SIM number with an apple id, you need to force a change by changing the password for that apple id. i did that as well, but still that apple id would not be removed from association with that old SIM number.

since I travel on business so frequently, I cant wait days or weeks for changed SIM numbers to propogate throughout apple servers and mobile carriers.

since the basic root cause of the problem is that there is high "stickiness" of a mobile number to an associated apple id, a different solution could be to make sure that each SIM number you use is associated with a unique apple id for that country. each SIM number you have is associated with a different apple id. so when you change apple id you "should" be getting the number you have associated with it in the past.

has anyone tried this solution to the problem?

thanks

if that didnt work, my girlfriend had the same problem and i fixed it this way:

goto setting>phone>my number

and change the number to your new one

that shld do the trick

hope it works for you too

Change your phone number in Apple ID.

In iPhone: Goto Settings -> Messages -> Send & Receive -> Apple ID -> View Account

or

Goto Settings -> Messages -> Send & Receive -> Apple ID -> Sign Out -> Sign In

I recently moved networks and transferred my number across to my new iPhone 5C, and like a lot of people here the phone was still telling me the number it thought I was using was the temporary number on the new O2 SIM, not the one I'd transferred. When I sent texts/rang people it was fine and the recipients knew it was me as my old number came up, however when I tried to use iMessage this other number was appearing, so I did the "Reset Network Settings" solution and the number I wanted is now recognised and being used!

Well,
Here's what worked for me:

1. Sign out your apple id in Imessage and Facetime.

2. Turn them off.

3. Make sure your number is correctly iserted in the "My number" field (at least edit it without writting anything)

4. Exit Setttings, lock your phone.

5. Wait a couple minutes (10-15 min).

6. Go to settings and turn Imessage and Facetime on, you should get a message saying somthing like it may cost you money for activation through SMS.

7. Check if the number is right after activation.

And make sure to upvote if if it worked. 🙂

I'm in the UK and have recently changed from GiffGaff on the O2 network, to Three. I ported my number and I had this problem. I solved it by switching off both Facetime AND iMessages, then restarting the phone and switching iMessage and Facetime back on. When it had activated again, the original number that Three had given me had dissappeared from everywhere and my phone was just using my ported number for both FaceTime and iMessages.

No need for a new sim.

This was an iPhone 5s on iOS7.

Thanks.

Good day!

I am in Bermuda and I am trying to use my local number for Facetime and iMessage. I have read and followed all instructions in this discussion but I am still unsuccessful so I have to resort to using my email(apple ID) address.

Any other suggestions please?

Hi Gatriyoh,

Thanks for your response. I did follow your steps and it is the 1st I saw my number. I even unchecked my email address but when I clicked next, it still showed my other number and my email address.

Help!

It took me ages to fix the same problem as all the suggestions on here were not working for me. Finally worked it out myself. You need to:

1. Settings

2. Phone

3. My Number (this will be showing the number you don't want to see)

4. Edit number to the number you do want to see

Now check the settings for Messages and FaceTime and the correct number should be showing.

Good Luck!

Another thanks from me. Got a new phone number/contract for my iphone, and imessages were only coming thru on my wifi ipad... none on phone. Additionally, texts sent from my ipad were coming across to my friends as coming from my old, dead phone number. I assumed it was because they hadn't updated my contact with new number but, after searching and reading your post, when I went into imessage settings in my phone it said "not verified".

Turned imessage off and then back on, it instantly validated the new number, and automatically updated the ipad.

Thanks again.

I know this post is pretty old, but if you still havent been able to figured it out, what worked for me was signing out and signing back in to both Facetime and iMessage. Hope it helps if you need it 🙂

I had a new SIM card and new carrier, and even though I had changed my phone number on my account, it didn't register in Settings/Messages/Send & Receive. Turning off iMessages, then turning phone off to reset fixed the problem. New number now shows.