No SIM card installed keeps popping up

I have an iPad Air and kept getting the No Sim Card message

Went to the Apple store for a dummy SIM, and even after putting it in and leaving it, it didn't work.

But I THINK I FOUND THE SOLUTION!! Haven't seen the message since I tried this

Step 1: Take your iPhone SIM that actually works and put it into your iPad

Step 2: Turn on Cellular Data on iPad, let it connect with network

Step 3: Turn off cellular data, and leave the SIM card in iPad

Step 4: Reset iPad (turn it off by holding the On/Off Sleep/Wake button

Step 5: Turn it back on

Step 6: Take SIM out, there should be the No Sim Card message just once

After this I haven't seen it pop up again (for the last few hours!!!)

Remember to like this if it works for you!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Arg!!! Never mind, the message came back after a few hours. For some reason, when the "Turn On Personal Hot Spot" appears (greyed out), underneath Cellular Data in the setting, that's when the message starts coming back.

But for a few hours, doing the steps above gets rid of the No SIM Card message.

The update to IOS 8.1 doesn't solve the issue.

Apparently, it seems that the pop-up appears less often than before, but it's still there, randomly, when I use Safari or do anything else.

If this is the best that the 'war-room' which should track down iOS8 issues can do, well, it's disappointing, to say the least.

For how long will we have to deal with that annoying pop-up ? IOS 8.2 ?

Try this,

This worked for me, I had to go through every setting on every app incuding iCloud, podcasts, Facebook, etc and turn off cellular data. Sometimes you have to go several menus deep but once I found every app or setting to turn off cellular data I quit getting the stupid notification.

It's good to know that an active or inactive SIM has worked for some. Workaround Update: My apps worked well with the inactive SIM in place, along with Cellular turned OFF. (No SIM error messages). However, Safari seemed to stagger now and then even with the "reading off-line" cellular option turned OFF. For the past week, I decided to turn Cellular ON with the inactive SIM in place. My iPad mini now shows "No Service" next to the wireless indicator, but Safari has been behaving very nicely ever since. Also, the wi-fi appears to be snappier all around. Hopefully, ios 8.2 will solve all these SIM error messages once and for all on all platforms.

I Have the same problem with my iPad 3 32gig and I have a sim card installed..It started with iOS 7 but not very often but since I upgraded to iOS 8 its worse. Some days I have to reboot my iPad up to 6 times a day just to get it to not give the No Sim message and so that I can use my data that is on the sim when I am not able to connect to wifi. It either keeps losing signal or it says no sim installed. And to make matters worse..I lost my ipad today in a shopping centre parking lot and I had find my phone installed and I was busy locating the ipad when it lost signal which caused me not to be able to find it. It wasnt able to play the sound anymore as it wasnt connected to the internet anymore.

Mr Larrington wrote:

Call me old-fashioned, but I don't think I should have to buy anything...

Not only that, it's important to note that this never happened without a SIM card installed before iOS 8. Apple changed something that causes this annoying message to pop up

My iPad Air faced the same problem since iOS8.0.2 update. Not only No SIM card message pop up, but also felt increasing of temperature at right side of my iPad Air.

Tried to off cellular data.... on Airplane Mode.... reset my iPad. Nothing change.

Until I had inserted a SIM card for it to satisfy its wish. 😟

I have tried everything, including advice from Apple On-Line Support. Just after I installed the original iOS8, they suggested wiping the iPad, starting from scratch with a factory default iOS install, and then re-installing from a back-up. Initially, the "No SIM" message disappeared, but after doing the re-install of my configuration it is back again. They also suggesting doing a re-install from the Cloud rather than iTunes, because that would force iOS8 compliant apps to be installed, rather than some non-iOS 8 compliant apps that can cause issues (seemingly there were quite a few...). That didn't work. Worse still under 8.02 it was intermittent. Now with iOS8.1 it is showing "No SIM" all of the time.

This is clearly a software issue - why else would it work/not-work when updating/re-installing iOS?

I have just wasted another half day wiping and re-installing iOS8.1 to see if the issue went away with yet another clean install (no apps). Nope - the problem is STILL there.

I sincerely hope Apple is reviewing these threads and will issue a fix soon. In meantime, I think we are all wasting our time trying countless "try this" suggestions to see if the issue can be fixed. I do not want to disable the cellular function on my iPad - that is not a fix. I need the cellular function to work. I am now relegated to using my tiny iPhone 5 screen instead.

This is clearly a deep rooted bug that Apple needs to be aware of and fix. I have an iPad that is now "not fit for the purpose for which it was intended" - a legal term which means that Apple needs to fix it, or I want my money back.

I had the same problem on my iPad 2 which I use only off WiFi. I done the following yesterday & the 'No Sim Card Installed' message only comes up once when you first boot up the iPad.
>Settings
>General

>Restrictions

>Mobile Data Use

>Don't Allow Changes

if you don't have time to find a sim then why did you waste your time and our time to post your issue here? I have a sim and solved the issue within a second. I did spend a minute to find a micro sim which I have loads from all UK operators ( can lend you one if you want 😉 ) but hey i dont waste time either. good luck.

Not sure if this will help.

I had a somewhat related problem in my new ipad air 2, constantly asking me to start a cellular data plan (I have a sim but have not chosen to start a cellular plan).

I think the issue is in the app settings - I turned off "use cellular data" app by app and the popups so far have not recurred.

Using Siri to turn off mobile data DOES NOT work for me! The only change is the warning in the top left corner changed to iPad instead of No Sim. Updating Apps using the iPad WiFi connection shows the message each time.

Using workarounds to DISABLE the WAN function is not what I came to this forum for. I came here to discover a fix that lets me continue to use the WAN function, since this is what I paid for and rely on. We should all be pushing for this, and if someone discovers a fix to enable me to use what I paid for, then I will be delighted.

Since I have already engaged Apple on-line support without success, are there other courses of action we can take with Apple? I am now sure that this issue is software/iOS related, and not a hardware defect, and also clearly something that no amount of user workarounds can fix.

This ^^^^.

Since installing v8.1, putting the thing in Airplane Mode, re-enabling Bluetooth & WiFi, turning off Cellular Data everywhere I can find it and turning off stuff which I never use altogether (e.g. Siri) the message doesn't come up as often as it did when I first "upgraded" to v8. But IMHO except after a reboot it shouldn't be coming up at all. Especially when some remedies work for some people and not others. The only thing they have in common is that they're using an iPad of some sort, which suggests that it's not a user issue. Which leaves but one party as Prime Suspect.

Where's Dame Helen when she's needed? 😠