iOS 7 iMessage won't activate

Hello, I can understand how frustrating this is.

I spoke to Apple just now, and they're aware. There's no solution, except to wait it out. Because of the 5s launch and iOS 7, Apple's servers are supposedly being hammered. A more senior Apple rep thought there will be delay up to 48 hours.

I have a 5s, and so does my friend. We both have the same issue as you.

This article may be helpful, just in case:

http://www.igeeksblog.com/fix-imessage-waiting-for-activation/

Fingers crossed.

Well done fullspeed8989, this sorted my problem

I'm in Australia on Telstra and have tried all of the above without success. I concur this seems to be a Telstra/Apple issue... What's interesting also is that my iPhone 4S is the one that is failing to activate iMessage, whilst an iPad we have with no SIM activated fine. Maybe I should take my SIM out and pretend it's not a phone for a while and try it that way...

I am also from Australia and with Telstra and having the same issues, I updated my iphone 5 over 24 hours ago, have tried resetting all settings multiple times with no avail. I have tried all suggestions bar erasing phone and restoring as I backed up after I updated 😟. I tried to call Apple but somehow I managed to call through to another company that provides tech support called Iyogi they proceeded to tell me that my apple ID was corupt and thats why it would not work and they could fix it for $60??? I did not do this as it seems to be a common problem with people updating so I think these people are just milking it. So very frustrating 😟 I hope it corrects itself very soon. You would think such a big corrpotation would roll the update out to a certain number of people before rolling it out world wide so these issues could be rectified before a million people had this problem!!

This happened to me and i was getting really annoyed

So what I did was I went onto time&date in settings and then turned on the 'set automatically' and off again, then on and off.

Then I went back to 'messages' and turned it on and all of a sudden it worked

Not sure if It will work for everyone but for me it did and I know I sounds pretty weird but my time wasn't right so it changed my imessage

Good luck I hope it worked!!

Nope still wont work 😟 I thought it might correct itself after 24 hours stiill no go. I've tried everything I can think of.

Another one for Australia and Telstra with a 4S.

Attempted everything suggested on every site but same problem over several days

I have an 5S with verizon and I am experiencing the same issues. I have gotten a new SIM card , restored , reset , wiped it clean , erased all content , reset networks , literally everything but got a new phone.

after troubleshooting for hours and hours this is what helped me! Hope this can help anybody with the same issue. Oh and remember that your Apple ID needs to be the same on iCloud, iMessenger and FaceTime. I had two different IDs (both of them working though) but it seemed to help to have the same account on all settings.

1. Back up your iPhone in iTunes.
2. Disconnect the iPhone from iTunes.
3. Turn FaceTime and iMessage off:
   • Settings > FaceTime
   • Settings > Messages
4. Navigate to Settings > General > Reset and select "Erase all content and settings".
5. In the iOS setup assistant, select "Set Up as New iPhone".
   
6. Sign in to your Apple ID with FaceTime and iMessage. Go to:
   • Settings > FaceTime and tap "Use your Apple ID for FaceTime"
   • Settings > Messages and tap "Use your Apple ID with iMessage"
7. Verify that FaceTime and iMessage activate successfully. It may take up to 24 hours to complete activation. When activation is successful, a check mark will be visible next to your phone number and email address in Settings > FaceTime and Settings > Messages > Send & Receive.
8. Disable automatic syncing in iTunes.
   • For Mac OS X: Click the iTunes menu and choose Preferences. Click the Devices tab and select the option to "Prevent iPods, iPhones and iPads from syncing automatically". Click OK.
   • For Windows: Click the Edit menu and choose Preferences. Click the Devices tab and select the option to "Prevent iPods, iPhones and iPads from syncing automatically". Click OK.
9. Connect the iPhone and restore from the backup. Do not perform a full restore.

Good luck!

Since my phone lost signal after the update to IOS7 and needed to re-activate iMessage (on O2 in the UK), it has been saying "waiting for activation" and sending me the text messages that others have mentioned.

I rang O2 and Emma in customer service (thanks again!!) found an article that O2's TU-GO isn't compatible with iMessage.

If you've got TU-Go or a similar app, the fix that worked for me:

1. Ensure in Settings > General > About that (for O2) the Carrier is version "O2 15.1". You may get an "Update Carrier?" message, say yes.

2. Open & sign into the TU-GO app.

3. Find settings at the bottom of the screen, and account > "Delete Account" button. I said yes to delete all data, but you decide if you want to do this.

4. Back to home screen, reboot the phone (hold power + home button until apple icon appears, then release)

5. Try to re-activate iMessage by turning it on & off in Settings > Messages

Obviously when complete you won't have the Tu-Go functionality, but I'm happier with iMsg + FaceTime working instead!!

Hope it helps!

Your steps worked for me fullspeed8989...thank you!

Originally my iPhone 5 downloaded ios7 over wifi, so I upgraded without plugging into the computer. I ended up with the iMessage/Facetime issue. After trying all the other various solutions (hard reboot/reset, network, log in with AppleID, etc) following your steps worked.

I should note that for me it took over an hour. I have 64gb, with half of that used. Thanks again! I had a lot of people not so happy with the fact I hadn't received their messages. 😟

AMAZING!!

This was the cause of all my problems which basically is that iMessage via the iPhone's number stopped working on all my devices at the same as I upgraded the iPhone 5 (on O2 Simplicity Monthly) to iOS 7.

Tried EVERYTHING but nothing has worked... but as soon as I deleted my account in TU-Go on one of my iPads, killed the app on my other devices and finally rebooted the iPhone it worked to activate iMessage.

After that iMessage via my iPhone's number started working on all other devices as well.

A MASSIVE thank you to yourself (and Emma at O2 Customer Services)!!

Thank you!!! You my dear Sir/Madam, rock!!! Never even crossed my mind that TU-Go would have been the culprit, I don't even use it on my iPhone, it was active on my iPad and as soon as I did what you suggested, problem solved...

The TU Go fix worked for me on O2 in the UK.

I tried the network reset & restore to back-ups that were suggested in this thread. As a last resort, I re-installed iOS-7 with a back-up-- worked like a champ. Definitely do a back-up otherwise you'll be starting over with a completely reset phone.

Not buying the server is busy explanation-- I think the software download had a hiccup.