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"iOS 7 iMessage and Facetime Problems"

Can't activate imessage after iOS 7 upgrade on ipad. It just says iMessage Activation- could not sign in. check your network connection and try again

iPad 2, iOS 7

Posted on Sep 19, 2013 1:22 PM

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156 replies

Nov 11, 2013 4:36 AM in response to uod2013

My wife's iPhone 4S has been experiencing similar problems. My iPhone 5 worked fine. After trying several suggested fixes (none that worked) I did find a solution.


I tried switching phone on/off - didn't work

I tried resetting network settings - didn't work

I tried putting 8.8.8.8 in DNS for wifi - didn't work


What did work was the following:


1. Go to Settings > Date & Time.

2. Her phone was switched to Set Automatically. The Time zone was "London" (our time zone)

3. I switched Set Automatically to "Off". The time zone then switched to Stockholm (where she visited on business recently)

4. I manually changedthe time zone from Stockholm back to London

5. I then switched Set Automatically back to "On".


Lo and Behold - a miracle .... it worked! Facetime and iMessage immediately started working. 😎


What I found was that my wife had switched off the automatic time setting, to preserve battery life of the phone. She then set the time to Stockholm whilst visiting there. On return to her home in the UK she switched the automatic time setting back on.


Now I don't know why it should make a difference between what time zone is currently selected on automatic and what it reverts to when automatic is switched off. I can only confirm that this did work immediately. Far quicker than backing up and resetting. I wonder if the back-up and reset re-aligned the time zones and that's why that process worked? 😕


Give it a try - do let me know if it solves it for you.

Nov 14, 2013 8:30 PM in response to uod2013

After seeing something about your appleID accounts, I tried to login to iMessage with my iCloud appleID (different from what I've been using with iMessage and what I buy things on iTunes with). It worked....not sure how useful this is. Still waiting to see if I can add my actual email and preferred Apple ID to that iMessage group.

Nov 14, 2013 8:59 PM in response to uod2013

After seeing something about your appleID accounts, I tried to login to iMessage with my iCloud appleID (different from what I've been using with iMessage and what I buy things on iTunes with). It worked....not sure how useful this is. Still waiting to see if I can add my actual email and preferred Apple ID to that iMessage group.

--

FINALLY SOLVED. I signed into iMessage with the new username@icloud.com that Apple has created for me, signed out, them signed in with the Apple ID that is my actual email and is associated with my cell # because that's what's on my iphone. And it works!!

Nov 18, 2013 4:11 PM in response to raviteja2000

After a lot of grief, this tip worked for me on my iPhone 4. Many thanks 'raviteja2000'!


Go to Settings

In Settings, go to WiFi and select your connection

Enter 8.8.8.8 in the DNS

Restart your device

Try signing in to iMessege and FaceTime

It should work

Now go back to the WiFi in Settings, and enter the old DNS

This worked for me, and I hope this helps!

Nov 23, 2013 9:00 PM in response to uod2013

The following worked for me:

Reset your network settings

This is easy.

Go to Settings > General > Reset and tap the Reset Network Settings button. A prompt will pop up asking you to confirm the process. You’ll have to enter your passcode, if any, to proceed. Note that resetting network settings also wipes out your saved Wi-Fi passwords, meaning you’ll have to re-enter them later.

Nov 24, 2013 5:29 AM in response to uod2013

I had the same problem and tried everything I found on the internet. Then I started experimenting and it worked. I hope it solves this issue for others too.


Disable the Location Services and then set the Date & Time manually from the Settings. Because you have disabled the Location Services hence it won't detect your location automatically. Set your location/time zone manually in the relevant field inside the Date & Time settings. Then enter your Apple ID in the iMessage and FaceTime settings separately. That'll do!

Dec 20, 2013 1:16 PM in response to uod2013

I was having the same problem. Mine got fixed after I turned OFF the Set Automatically option. To do this go to:


Settings-> General->Date and Time-> and turn the Set Automatically to White or OFF--Also check to see if next to Time Zone--when you are on green or ON--if you have a turning wheel, meaning it is retrieving data so you don't actually see the time and date. If you see the "turning wheel" while you are on green that is your peoblem. Turning "Set Automatically" off will resolve the problem.


Having it on Green was causing my iMessage not to work. Hopefully this will work for some of you too.


I tried everything else, changing my password to even erasing everything and restoring my iPad completely from my back-up on iCoud, and this was the only thing that helped me. Make sure that your Time Zone is correct though, date and time 🙂


Good Luck!


Just saw this: sjlawton did the same thing so it is working for other people. Strange fix, but hey it works!

Dec 23, 2013 2:43 AM in response to uod2013

Hi,


We had a second device connected to the same iTunes account. It is an iPhone 4.

Same behaviour.


what fixed it for us was:


  1. Open up your Settings app and tap ‘Messages’, then disable iMessage by tapping the toggle
  2. Go back into the main Settings screen, then tap ‘General’ and then ‘Reset’. Now tap ‘Reset Network Settings’ and confirm the process — you may have to enter your passcode if you have one set
  3. Return to the Messages section and enable iMessage again


I tried this before but didn't deactivate imessage first. I also did a reboot of the Phone before enabling iMessage again.

"iOS 7 iMessage and Facetime Problems"

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