iphone 4S displays Activation Required every reboot/every couple of days

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Level 1

3 points

iphone 4S displays Activation Required every reboot/every couple of days

Since the IOS8.02 upgrade my phone constantly drops to "Activation Required" lock and won't activate over cellular connection (Vodafone UK). This means I'm stuffed until I can connect to WiFi, when I enter the ID details and all is OK. Very annoying if I'm away from home!
I've done a Recovery Mode restore through itunes but it's still the same. The phone has never had any developer betas installed and, until the past couple of weeks, has operated all OK with earlier IOS versions. When activated all is fine with 8.02 too, until the next time it locks itself :-(

iPhone 4S, iOS 8, 8.02

Posted on Oct 9, 2014 1:19 AM

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Answer 1

pedro d

Community Specialist

Oct 10, 2014 12:43 PM in response to Duncan F

Hello there, Duncan.

Good job on the steps you've performed while troubleshooting your issue on your own. The following Knowledge Base article provides a great checklist of steps and recommendations for the issue you're having:

Get help activating your iPhone

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

If your carrier provided a SIM card, make sure it's in your iPhone.

Restart the iPhone.

Try to reach the activation server another way, then try to activate.

Try connecting to a known-good Wi-Fi network if you can't activate using a cellular data connection.

Try connecting to iTunes if you can't activate using Wi-Fi.

Restore the iPhone.

Check the system status for iOS Device Activation. If the iOS Device Activation status isn't green, try activating your iPhone later.

If you receive an alert message when you try to activate your iPhone, place the iPhone in recovery mode and perform a restore. If you still can't complete the setup assistant due to an activation error, contact Apple for assistance.

Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.

Cheers,

Pedro.

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Answer 2

Duncan F Author

Level 1

3 points

Oct 11, 2014 2:05 AM in response to pedro d

Thanks for your reply Pedro.

I never had a problem activating the phone over WiFi, the problem was every few hours the activation lock kicked-in again and the phone became useless until I got home and to my WiFi once more.

Hopefully this is now resolved. I first tried a recovery mode restore (via iTunes) from backup, which was no different. I then did the same but this time setting it up as a new iphone, which looks to have solved the problem. A lot of work though to restore all the apps, arrange groups, re-enter login credentials/preference setups for each one etc etc, just because Apple could not properly test an upgrade script 😕

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Answer 3

Duncan F Author

Level 1

3 points

Nov 2, 2014 1:21 AM in response to Duncan F

Sadly this has not gone away. Phone still goes into Activation lock every 2 days on average, sometimes more frequently. WiFi activation always works (til the next time), Cellular activation always fails to find the server. I can't rely on the phone at all if I'm away from home.
Also now running ios 8.1 - no different. 😠

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Answer 4

jdesert

Level 1

4 points

Dec 28, 2014 10:28 AM in response to Duncan F

Did you discover a fix for this issue? My iPhone 5 (following an update to ios 8.1.2) is doing the same thing. I see multiple threads about the issue, but no solution. It's weird that I talked to an Apple support person about this yesterday and the guy kind of acted like I was dumb or crazy, that he was hearing about some problem that nobody has, and yet a look around the forums reveals many people experiencing the same issue.

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Answer 5

Apr 1, 2015 1:08 PM in response to JayBatPDX

Hi all!

I have the same problem with my iPhone 5, which started after updating to iOS8

I noticed that the problem occurs (in my case) only in places with unstable mobile network.

Irritates incredibly, because only solution is to find a wifi, which in some cases is a huge obstacle

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Answer 6

Mar 5, 2015 10:31 AM in response to jdesert

No fix, just a ditto. iPhone 4s, 3 years old, original owner, USA, ATT service. Updated to IOS 8.1.3 about a week ago, and have had two of the false "Activation Required" events so far. Not happy.

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Answer 7

Apr 2, 2015 3:49 PM in response to alex_khkhkh

Alex-- In my case, the failure has not repeated after update from IOS 8.1.3->8.2, about 3 weeks ago.

HTH, -Jay-

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Answer 8

Apr 18, 2015 1:09 AM in response to JayBatPDX

Hi, Jay!

In my case the problem is still unresolved. I have updated to 8.3, but still no change. Actually, I am thinking about moving to Sony Z3 Compact...

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