iPhone Activation Server Unavailable?

My kids accidently wiped my wife's iPhone and now we cannot reactivate it. Specifically I get a message

"Your iPhone could not be activated because the activation server is temporarily unavailable. Try connection your iPhone to iTunes to activate it, or try again in a couple of minutes. If this probelm persists, contact Apple Support at apple.com/support."

It has been almost an hour and I have tried connecting to iTunes and I still get the same message. Does anyone know if the server is down, or what?

iPhone 5, iOS 7.0.4

Posted on Dec 7, 2013 6:33 AM

Top-ranking reply

wjosten

Level 10

95,369 points

Posted on Dec 7, 2013 6:56 AM

There is nothing wrong with Apple's activation servers. They are up & running just fine.

We're Sorry, Activation Server Temporarily Unavailable, contact Customer Care...Your request Could Not Be Completed?"

99.9% of the time, the cause of this issue is the fact the phone was jailbroken/hacked to unlock it for use on networks other than the network the phone was originally locked to. Apple maintains a database of officially unlocked iPhones, and when Apple's servers detect phones such as yours, activation stops & you get the message you got.

So, you need to get a sim card from the carrier the phone was originally locked to, or get it officially unlocked, if you want to activate it. Because it appears that it was not officially unlocked.

Apple has started to get "tough" with hacked iPhones, & simply won't permit their activation

Also, read here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3424

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17 replies

Jul 20, 2017 7:20 PM in response to wjosten

Yes

Nov 11, 2017 11:33 PM in response to Kronusdark

Trying a different SIM card is the best way to isolate

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iPhone Activation Server Unavailable?