iMessage Activation on iOS 6 in UAE - not working anymore

Question

iMessage Activation on iOS 6 in UAE - not working anymore

I have a Canadian iPhone 4S and live in the UAE. After the iOS 6 update it is not possible to activate iMessage (stuck with "Waiting for activation...")! It was working fine before on iOS 5. Also I can't login with my UAE Apple ID for additional "Send & Receive" email addresses (Apple IDs from other countries are working).

I tried all work-arounds described in serveral forums. The only thing what I didn't try is switching my UAE Apple ID to another country as described by other users before. When I try to do it I'm getting an iTunes 5002 error and it doesn't let me switch the ID to another country.

Now I am using temporarly my old Canadian Apple ID for iMessage. At least I can send some iMessages with my old Apple email address. But the activation for my phone number is also here not working.

I have a strange feeling that +971 are blocked for iMessage activation on iOS 6...

Would be great to read some more user experiences about iMessage activation on iOS 6 in UAE!

iPhone 4S, iOS 6

Posted on Sep 22, 2012 3:04 AM

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Answer 1

Arman M

Level 1

5 points

Sep 22, 2012 10:21 PM in response to The Desert Fox

Same problem - iPhone 4 (boughtin Canada) - can't activate iMassage on iOS 6 (Eti$alat connection)

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Answer 2

Sep 23, 2012 1:07 AM in response to The Desert Fox

I have the Same problem with my iPhone 4s. Etisalat connection.

When i updated to IOS 6 all of a sudden my iMessage stopped working.

Even paid a visit to etisalat to check on the phone and they said sicne it is a 3rd party application etisalat do not support the iPhone.

I appreciate if anybody can help me out.

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Answer 3

Sep 23, 2012 1:38 AM in response to The Desert Fox

Here is what i just did and worked for me.

Go to appleid.apple.com and change your Region to UK.

It will be very helpful if you have a valid address in UK.

i read it here why it is not working.

http://tbreak.com/tech/2012/09/fix-for-facetime-and-imessages-not-working-on-ios -6-in-the-uae/

Mine is back online again.

Hope this works.

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Answer 4

Arman M

Level 1

5 points

Sep 23, 2012 2:01 AM in response to Mojtaba.n

Mine is still not working - mine is set to the US store.

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Answer 5

Sep 23, 2012 3:45 AM in response to Mojtaba.n

Tweak as described on tbreak.com is not working with me neither!

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Answer 6

Sep 23, 2012 9:26 AM in response to The Desert Fox

I have a du SIM card. And iMessage and FaceTime both get activated using the apple ID as well as the phone number. My apple ID is linked to the US store. When I use my etisalat number, FaceTime and iMessage get stuck on waiting for activation and FaceTime and iMessage work only with the apple ID. I called etisalat also, but no reply yet from them.

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Answer 7

Sep 23, 2012 1:22 PM in response to The Desert Fox

Same problem after the upgrade. Apple reacts strangely. Silence.

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Answer 8

Sep 23, 2012 9:37 PM in response to arunbhatia

If it is working with du and not with Etisalat then it looks like that Etisalat blocked the outgoing SMS for the iMessage mobile number verification.

But why only with iOS 6? Or it is not possible either anymore to activate iMessage with iOS 5 and Etisalat?

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Answer 9

iggypoo

Level 1

0 points

Sep 23, 2012 10:43 PM in response to The Desert Fox

same prolem here with iphone 5 (UK version). Stuck on activation.

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Answer 10

WaleedSa

Level 1

0 points

Sep 24, 2012 8:12 AM in response to The Desert Fox

I think +971 and UAE based apple IDs are not activating iMessage anymore😠, looks like something between Apple, and Etisalat and du!!

Looks like all activations from UAE mobile network or UAE based IP addresses over WiFi are blocked.

iMessage used to work for me before also.

Any idea how to get iMessage activated again?

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Answer 11

iggypoo

Level 1

0 points

Sep 24, 2012 8:55 AM in response to The Desert Fox

Du seems to be working fine (my wife has du), but etisalat is definitely down. Me, my dad, my mom are all on etisalat and it just wont work.

If anyone finds a solution to this problem, please post here.

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Answer 12

Sep 24, 2012 10:05 AM in response to The Desert Fox

You have to change the country on your UAE Apple ID on the device (iphone or ipad) and not on itunes, through Settings-iTunes & App Stores-Apple ID. Restart your device and then try to activate again imessage and facetime. When you finish, don't forget to switch the country back to UAE.

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Answer 13

Sep 24, 2012 10:17 AM in response to Dubanezos

Changing the country on the iPhone with an UAE Apple ID is not working with me. I get a session timeout all the time...

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Answer 14

kdahab

Level 1

16 points

Sep 24, 2012 6:26 PM in response to The Desert Fox

me too i think it is blocked by etisalat

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Answer 15

Sep 24, 2012 9:59 PM in response to The Desert Fox

What we know so far:

DON'T DEACTIVATE iMessage cause you can't activate it anymore!
iMessage is still activated and working for SOME USERS after updating to iOS 6 (if it was activated before the update)
Activating with an IP from another country doesn't work
Changing the country of the Apple ID doesn't work (some users say I did but I can't confirm)
Using an Apple ID from another country doesn't work
Some users report they can activate with du (no confirmation on this)

It looks like Etisalat is blocking the activation SMS iOS is sending out to a UK number in order to activate the your number to the iMessage service. Not confirmed but everything looks like that...

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