Q: iOS 7 iMessage won't activate

I have been dealing with half baked solutions to this problem since it came out.  Plan and simple go to YouTube and search for "imessage ios7 fix"  and look for a video by Karli Fannigan.  She was a Beta tester with this issue and walks you through Redsn0w jailbreak software for iOS 7 (Redsn0w 0.9.15 beta 3). 

You don't need to jailbreak it because the software allows you to deactivate your phone and then the phone will make you reactivate it...  iMessage & Facetime problem solved for me... 

*Make sure your phone is conected to your computer and that you have Itunes open/logged in before downloading the software to your computer and running it.  Good Luck!

This was the only solution that's worked for me!  Instantly fixed my imessage activation problem.  Thank's HashTagSimple.  Much better than having to reinstall all my apps and music.

The simple fix for me was to ask the person i wanted to imessage for their apple id connected email address, assign it to the contact as icloud email address and then choose to imessage them that way. I dont want to start speculation but could it be the new facetime voice only has upset some people in Telstra enough to block the imessage and facetime servers?

easy fix guys! go to settings>privacy>enable location services

THEN go to settings>general>date & time> chose auto update.

NOW login to iMessage and Facetime, Should work now

Need more info?!?!

go to:(activation of iMessage)   http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4268?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_GB

or:  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5594?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_GB

Thanks for posting this HashTagSimple, Karli Fannigan's solution worked for me!

I'm having a problem with imessaes. Mines activated because I can talk to my sister on it but I can't my husband. He doesn't reveive my imessages until he gets home. (ive witnessed it happen) not sure why its doing this any suggestions??

I've had this problem as well as the problems with push notifications not allowing me to use certain apps (snapchat for 1). I've tried all the suggestions made on here but none of them have worked.

I visited the genius' today and they basically told me to wait for iOS 7.0.1 for a fix.

After sifting through 27 pages of this stuff while at work, and nothing worked for me, I was resigned to resort to the backup/reset/restore later tonight at home and keep my fingers crossed.  I did HashTagSimple's recommendation as a last resort here at work and it worked like a champ for me!  Piece of cake - so simple....  Took longer to update my iTunes than to perform the fix.  Thanks for the info!

I all, I had the exact same issue after the update.  Tried everything nothing worked until I found a thread started 2 years ago, but was recently updated.  This worked for me.

1. Back up your phone to Itunes
2. Once complete go to settings
3. General
4. Reset
5. Erase All Content and Settings

Once your phone starts back up, restore from the backup you just made.  Once the backup is complete facetime and imessage worked as it should.

The video on youtube worked! Just download the redsn0w program and it worked beautifully. WAY BETTER THAN RESETTING NETWORKS etc. etc.

I tried all of these suggestions as well...except for the erase all contents-  there just had to be an easier way.

The video on youtube worked great in 2 seconds.  Hardest part was downloading the right version but Karli graciously added a link at the top under the video description (click on show more).  It is tied in to reactivation and I figured this out yesterday, but even AT&T couldn't fix...I had them remove me from the network today and that didn't even do anything.   This fix by Karli takes care of the issue...everything working great.

backup the device with itunes.

Restore the device with itunes and set up as new.

Sign into the facetime and imessage to activate it.

After that is done and activation is good.

Restore from the backup.

Then make sure to sign into facetime and imessage again and you should be good to go

The below mentioned steps worked for me and my wife's iPhone without restoring.

1. Restart your phone.

2. Turn off iMessage and FaceTime.

3. Send a text message to someone. It can be anyone as long as it goes through your carrier.

4. Turn on iMessage and FaceTime.

5. Wait for 12-24 hours and it should get activated.

Please let me know if this helps.

@nayanmodi,

No, that didn't work on my iPhone 4S.

If it is as easy as Karli says....merely deactivating the phone and allowing it to reactivate, that sounds like an easy fix for Apple. Why wouldn't t they just suggest that or give us a way to do the same thing? Anyone have a logical explanation as to why they wouldn't.....if in fact this has been going on since the beta testing?

There's got to be something more to it than just a deactivation / reactivation issue. I don't want to have to clear all my data.

THIS IS THE SOLUTION!