Maybe i have problem activate imessage IOS 7.1.2

iOS: Troubleshooting FaceTime and iMessage activation

Have you tried activating it while connected to WIFI?

You can try this. Turn on wifi and connect to a network. Turn off and on your phone. Try to activate them again.

Or you can try put it on airplane for a few seconds then take it off. Connect to wifi and data and try activate it.

You can do a hard reset by holding power and home till it restarts and release when you see apple logo

Still don't work? Reset connection settings at Settings>General>Reset>Reset Network Settings (This will delete saved passwords as well so you will need to login back to iCloud, AppStore, and email accounts)

Still don't work? The last would be to restore your iphone. If you do restore, make sure you backup everything first. (Atleast first in case one backup failed.)

Is it possible that your carrier does not support iMessage 😮

I am getting the same since i returned from the UK. My iPhone activates iMessage phone number in UAE on the way through but when I returned here it failed. I have restored my phone but still will not activate. It has worked fine for 1.5 years

i am also getting the SMS showing up on my Zain Bill this number is the activation sms. It is not working with my phone though. Zain are checking but confirm they have no put a block on it. HELP....

If anyone else has this issue with Just Zain Kuwait please let me know as I now know 6 zain numbers that don't work but works fine on any other network

Thank you all for your participation in this case. I have just come across this problem with my iPhone 5c running 7.1.2 for the last two days and i thought i would share my experience with all of you.

I CAUTION YOU, reading this post WILL NOT help you SOLVE THE PROBLEM but IT WILL HELP YOU understand a lot about this issue AND IT WILL give you hope on what's to come.

upon noticing the issue (like i said 2 days ago) i did the following steps to trouble shoot the issue:

1. turn off iMessage and FaceTime, close all apps, did a hard reset (hold down on/off + home button till apple logo appears then release), then when device opens, i turn iMessage and FaceTime on again and wait. (THAT DID NOT WORK!)

2. same procedure done in step "1" but using WIFI instead of LTE OR 3G this time. (THAT DID NOT WORK)

3. did a "reset network settings". (THAT DID NOT WORK)

4. did a "reset all settings". (THAT DID NOT WORK)

5. did a full restore or "Erase all content and settings" and then use iCloud back up to restore the device. (THAT DID NOT WORK)

6. did a full restore and start the device as a new device. (THAT DID NOT WORK)

7. did a full restore using ITUNES on my mac which should get a fresh brand new iOS 7.1.2 to my iPhone. (THAT DID NOT WORK)

WHAT I DID THEN

Being an apple developer myself i tried contacting apple on the phone and by email trying to understand the problem and perhaps fix it from there end. In the Apple phone call (using skype), the issue was escalated to an Apple Senior Advisor (the people that know more about stuff than regular apple call center staff). and i was explained the following:

When iMessage and FaceTime is set to activate, a hidden message is sent from your phone to apple's servers and is replied to by apple servers to your phone, this is when iMessage and FaceTime is activated. If for what ever reason this discrete messaging process (which cost 50 fils in Kuwait each time you try to activate) is interrupted or compromised, activation fails.

and so the idea then was to try and see if that activation message is going through or not

i was advised by the apple senior advisor to check if my carrier (ZAIN in Kuwait) had any issues with iMessage and perhaps maybe they had BLOCKED it out. This of course have been noticed in many arab countries when mobile carriers have blocked out free Apple service under the alibi of security but in reality the are just trying to make more money.

so i went ahead and CONTACTED ZAIN.

My Experience with ZAIN TODAY

Before i go ahead and tell my story with ZAIN let me go on record by saying I am not as a ZAIN employee nor have I ever worked for that company in my life. I am just another Kuwait client. Normally when you call ZAIN you would end up with the limited information provided by the ZAIN call-center staff. This is normal for carriers and should you request further assistance you are of course entitled of asking for tech-support to get back to you. And I honestly didn't think that they would get back to me but they have in such short time..!

ZAIN tech support got back to me in LESS THEN one hour..!

i was addressed by ZAIN TECH SUPPORT who have escalated the matter to ZAIN MAIN BUILDING where all the IT advisors were. At that point i was advised to wait for an advisor from ZAIN main building to contact me. WHICH HE DID THE NEXT MORNING. 🙂

the next morning i was contacted by another ZAIN advisor who set up a date with me to come meet the tech support staff at zain main building and hope to address the issue.

WHAT I LEARNED THAT DAY

not only did ZAIN not intention of blocking the iMessage service but was in fact trying to solve it. I have met staff members that were tracing the activation message to see if it is going through to apple servers and realized that it wasn't !!? BUT NOT FOR ALL PEOPLE.

WHY DID THE PROBLEM OCCUR !?

The final conclusion ZAIN believes is the issue is when the company realized a great number of activation messages were spiking and it was costing people lots of money cause they all were UNIDENTIFIED short coded international messages that were duplicates and so ZAIN ordered to spam that short number that was used to activate iMessage and FaceTime.

short after that ZAIN REALIZED THEIR MISTAKE and removed the spam off the service as of last week and were advised by apple that the issue should be resolved with a simple reset of the device to reactivate the issue WHICH HAS BEEN IN FACT RESOLVED for some.

however that did not work well for all people and as of today. ZAIN are still waiting to hear from APPLE regarding the issue.

IN CONCLUSION AND FUTURE HOPE

If you're facing this problem and think you're the only one rest sure you are not. There are many other people (at least in Kuwait) including ZAIN carrier tech support staff, that are also having this issue and from what i have seen are working hard to fix it.

ZAIN is in the process of communicating with Apple to resolve this issue. And i have taken their contacts to follow up and will be sharing my results with you here a soon as something comes up.

WHAT I WILL TRY AND DO NEXT

Right now, I have this wicked idea of trying to restore my device to the latest iOS 8 beta 3. Meaning i will install the new iOS 8 UPDATE its latest beta update. At least just to try and see if the update resolves this issue or not. Of course I will report back once I have tangible results.

Hey there

SO why do you think that the removal of the spam filter did not work for you and me .? Also why do you think that zain employees were not informed of this as part of their diagnostic procedure thus saving time on calls with customers. annoyingly the spam thing would not work as even with that in place on my bill it shows over 100 activation messages sent by apple put on my bill but did not activate my phone So their action was seemingly flawed..

i Hope they resolve it quickly as I have tried the other Kuwait sims and they work fine. It would be a shame to leave the company...

my work uses iphone and are starting to notice the issue. I think we have 1000 phones ...I'm sure they will soon be contacting zain for a resolution

thanks for your message. Are you sure you don't work for zain. Lol.

lol,

yes i'm sure i don't work for ZAIN. I'm actually surprised i'm speaking highly of a mobile carrier company myself but truth be told the have been helpful. I just finished a one hour phone call with an apple senior representative and have gotten no where with them. we have tried everything. as far as apple's concerned, my phone's apple id and phone number are registered just fine.

Apple is assuring me that it's a carrier problem. Looking back i understand the irony of how this would work for Zain's advantage know that not a lot of customers will be using Apple's awesome free service but from what i've seen today, i'm really hoping that i am right about Zain and that they are not doing all this to test the waters if people would respond to them screwing the network.

but no i don't work for zain 😝

I Have also been on the phone to apple.m. Mi will also saw that zayin have been very helpful so far. I gues the measure of that will really be a return to normal service. They have told me they would get back to me in 3 days. ill keep you informed...