how to register with iMessage?

You enable iMessage in the Settings > Messages. It will ask you to sign in with your AppleID. It will also ask you to set up the phone numbers and email addresses you wish to be linked to your iMessage account. That is how you do it.

i went into messages in setting to register my imessage on my ipad 2 but when i type in my apple id and press sign in it doesn't work it comes up with

Imessage activation

could not sign in. please check your network connection and try again.

but my network connection is fine it works while on safari and itunes and app store.

what can i do to make it work?

I'm having what may be the same difficulty. I have multiple verified apple ID's, two of them have confirmation email for iCloud activation from Apple. Of the two confirmed email, iCloud, Apple ID's .... one works and the other does not. The one which does not work will not enable the "send" button in iMessage and iMessage returns a warning that "...the email address is not registered with iMessage."

If I try to insert a second email address into the "receive at" field in iMessage it returns an error "This email address is already in use." This happens to each address in turn, if I enter one as primary in "receive at" it is accepted and the other is rejected as a second address.

Fist shaking at Apple!

I am having the exact same problem and i have no idea how to fix it !!

You can activate it by going to wifi click on your network then click on DNS clear anything if there is anything and type 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4 then go back to imessage and you'll be able to activate.

When I go to settings there is no option for me to insert any phone numbers allowing me to send text messages. I have only my email address listed. Can you please give more information or am I just missing something I should have. Thank you

I'm having the exact same issue as you (Bertina).

The phone number is listed first under settings > messages > receive at. once you've signed in with your apple id, the email associated with that id will appear as one of the addresses. you can add additional email addresses, and (at the bottom of that screen) you can designate which address (or your phone number) will appear as your iMessage "caller id."

Thank you for your reply. My problem is when I go to settings/messages/receive at/ there is no place to insert a phone number. I am able to add email address only. I can send and recieve emails but not able to text with my grandchildren who have an ipod touch. I am able to send and recieve text from those have have an ipod with cell phone number already established with a service. Again any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. (Even though I have an account that appears to be activated, the area where is says I can send and revieve messages looks to be greyed out.)

I'm having the same problem too

On my iPhone I can text to any cell phone number

Can I not do the same with my iPad ?

Set up iMessage on your iPhone. The phone number will be added automatically from the SIM; you cannot override it. The number is then associated with your iMessage acccount, along with any email addresses you add. If someone sends an iMessage to you via any one of those contacts, it will be routed to you via iMessage.

On an iPod/iPad, since the device lacks the mobile SMS/text capability, so you don't have the option of texting to "any" number -- only to those numbers which have been associated with an Apple ID via iMessage. Hope that makes sense.

You can set up a Google Voice account if you have a Gooogle account. You can use the GV app to text any domestic number using your iPod/iPad. Other similar services may exist; GV is the one I use.

Limiting you to messaging only other Apple users (who are on iOS 5) is one of the weaknesses of the iMessage app. Perhaps at some point Apple will reconsider their strategy and allow texting to non-iOS users.

I have a mac computer, an ipad, and now an ipod touch but unfortunately no iphone. I purchased the i touch in order to text to grandchildren who now have the i touch. I can text to those who have an i phone but not to those who have an i touch. I was hoping there would be an easy soloution. I am not very literate when it comes to this kind of problem so I may be out of luck. I do wish I could make it work. Thank you so much for your reply.

Are you certain they have set up their accounts correctly? If they are running iOS 5 and have signed in with their Apple ID and supplied iMessage with their relevant email addresses, it should work without any issues. Please verify that they've done this, if you haven't already.

I cant activate mine too.. It sstaes that unable to verify email because it is in use. The email input should be the same as the itunes email right?

Thank you so much for your response. I do know that my grandson who is 10 has downloaded a game and songs from itunes so his email address should allow me to send a text to him. When I try to send a text using his email address to his ipod touch, my send button is greyed out. Again thank you for trying to help me. It is greatly appreciated.