You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

oijulia Author

Level 1

15 points

Help! Recurrent "activation required" message after upgrade to iOS 8.1

Hello,

I recently upgraded to iOS 8 (directly from iOS 7 to version 8.1). Ever since, my phone keeps giving me a message saying "Activation Required" (see images). I am able to activate my phone normally, if I'm logged in to iCloud I have to enter my e-mail and password every time (so I logged off from iCloud for now).

The problem is:

- This happens at least 10 times a day, even more.

- The phone can only be activated on wifi (3G and LTE never work, although the phone gives me the option to try these)

- When the activation is required and if I don't have wifi to do it, the phone is completely blocked - I can't get out of the activation page, no way to see my home screen or access any of the apps, not even the camera, nothing!

I've taken it to Apple store and first they told me to delete everything and start as a new phone. It didn't work. Then I went again and they did a "full delete" (a different way of resetting my phone as a new phone) and installed iOS 8.1 from one of their computers, which they said was different from doing it from my computer. The guy was sure he had solved my problem, but I got the activation message a few hours later.

Now Apple tells me it's a problem with my carrier. My carrier, of course, says this is a problem with the phone.

I don't know what to do! The phone is less than 1 year old and I had no plans to buy a new one in the next year or so...

Does anyone has the same messages?

Does anyone has an idea why my phone is asking for activation so often??

:-(

Any help will be appreciated!

Julia.

iPhone 5

iOS 8.1

iPhone 5, iOS 8.1

Posted on Oct 31, 2014 1:57 PM

Top-ranking reply

JSage

Level 1

109 points

Posted on May 18, 2017 11:17 PM

I just went through 24 hours of **** that started with this, then led to being stuck within any app. Home button seemed nonfunctional, but using the accessibility version (on-screen, not mechanical), results were the same... so it was not the home button. Ditto the power button, once that no longer would let me just quit. Seemed clearly software-related. I hooked to desktop, backed up and restored... multiple times, long story short. Nothing worked. But that activation thing lurked in my head, so.... well, if you've been at this Apple game for awhile, you know that through dot-mac and dot-me and iCloud and so on (none of which really worked well, till I suppose probably recently, since everybody else has mastered the cloud... though Apple has made theirs more invasive than useful)..... at any rate, if you've been at it awhile, you probably have one ID-password for mac-me-cloud and one for your Apple account. And they'd always act as though that was normal, desirable, useful or smart, but it was none of those things. Well, my failing device was the last one that still had "that other ID-pw," the one that USED to be required for iCloud and its predecessors. But I know I've set up more recent devices with my regular Apple ID-pw, same as the one for Apple Store, iTunes and so on. So... I bit the bullet and restored the iPad, but did NOT restore its contents from backup. I just reinstalled things, which is actually not as bad as it sounds. (Just make sure you take "your stuff"... photos, notes, recordings, whatever that are not in Apple's cloud... and dump to your desktop before you do all this.) The apps are easy to reload via the iTunes desktop interface. In fact, it's a heck of a lot quicker than trying to fix the unfixable any other way I found in forums, discussions and/or just tried. So... old iPad, new ID-pw from my Store/iTunes account to set up iCloud, NOT the old iCloud ID-pw... and it works. Could be just the clean slate approach, but... so many discussions blamed the 9.3.x and up upgrades, but this is now still on 9.3.5 and working. If you can find a way to change your iCloud ID-pw for that device via the desktop, that might work... but I wasn't able to access that. Good luck.

View in context

41 replies

dyjchoi

Level 1

0 points

Apr 17, 2015 6:13 PM in response to Jegue

In a similar situation. I'm abroad right now (Canada, normally a US Resident). On the 4th day of my trip, started getting repeated Activation requests from the phone from the lock screen. Just tried disabling Find My iPhone from settings and signing out from the app. Hopefully this will work.

Apr 19, 2015 10:36 PM in response to dyjchoi

Yep I am also having this issue. I have a T-Mobile iPhone 6 from the USA. Third day in visiting Canada I have been asked to activate my iPhone five times, and I have to wait until I can find a WiFi network somewhere. It's rendering my phone useless while I'm up here. Very annoying.

dlbusa

Level 1

0 points

Apr 21, 2015 7:00 PM in response to oijulia

I am having the same problem. I have an iPhone 5s from T-Mobile, and am a US resident visiting Canada (Vancouver area), which is where the problem started. I am now trying disabling Find My iPhone, based on what I have read in this discussion.

Apr 21, 2015 7:47 PM in response to dlbusa

I think I may have found a solution if you're roaming on T-Mobile in Canada. I noticed that my phone was constantly switching between Bell, Rogers, and Telus networks and I think that might have triggered the activation lock. Once I set my phone to only use Rogers, the activation lock stopped happening. I only tested this for about 12 hours because I had to return state side, so not sure if this is a permanent solution or not.

To lock your phone to Rogers, go to Settings > Carrier, and turn off automatic. Then, your phone will start searching for carriers. Wait until it finishes searching (can take a few minutes), and choose either Rogers, Bell, or Telus (I went with Rogers). After that, your phone will stay locked to that carrier. Just remember to switch auto back on once you return to the US.

Faxx

Level 1

0 points

Apr 27, 2015 1:45 PM in response to oijulia

Exact same thing happening to me as garretto208. I am a T-Mobile customer with an iPhone 6. Am roaming in Vancouver, Canada and phone goes nuts switching between carriers. Also get the dreaded Activation Required periodically. Am trying garretto208's suggestion. Will update if it fixes the issue for me.

buzzgary

Level 1

13 points

Aug 24, 2015 10:33 PM in response to Faxx

Any luck with this anyone?

Having this problem with my daughters iPhone for the last month and it's driving us both crazy

she is with koodo.

recently we have upgraded to latest iOS with apple music. And also had carrier turn off data To save overage costs.

Went to Apple Store. Wiped phone. Running as new with no restore. Also got new SIM card from carrier.

Thought problem would go away but it's still happening.

LB321

Level 1

0 points

Oct 17, 2015 4:47 AM in response to buzzgary

Well, add me to the club! :-( I have an iPhone 6, running 9.0.2 on Verizon. I got that exact Activation message about a month ago. At that time I input

my Apple I D and everything was fine. Then I was worried it was some kind of hack so I changed all my passwords on my phone. When it happened today, I decided to just shut down the phone and restart. When it rebooted, it asked me to set up iCloud but I just "skipped" the entire process. My phone is completely

fine and all of my iCloud settings were on. I can make calls and texts. Very strange. I may call Apple today. To me, it seems like an Apple issue. It hasn't happened as often as some of you describe, but it is annoying, and if it happens more frequently, I will certainly want the issue fixed... But at least I found a quick fix for the moment...

Dec 25, 2015 6:45 PM in response to LB321

I have been facing this issue for a few months now. I was sent a new iPhone 6 (to replace my previous one) and that is what the problem started. Apple blames verizon and verizon blames apple. I have now at this point had 3 separate new phones and a new sim card. I still face this issue. The first time it happened my phone did not finally activate for a full week. Then it would happen on and off. I have called Verizon a few times on this issue. Ive noticed that if I go into a building that normally in the past had poor cell service the "no service" now will pop up and I am asked to activate my phone. I have traveled down to my families house for the holiday and now my phone has not worked for 3 full days. I am at a huge loss at this point. I don't know what to do. I am not sure if I should switch carriers. I really am going to be even more upset than I already am if I need to go spend more money to buy a new phone I already have. I mean it is so bad that the last tech person I spoke to a verizon just pointed the finger back at apple (one again) and when I disconnected the call she tried to call me back and left a message on my cell. Really.. lady... I told you for 45 minutes that my phone did not work. Someone has to figure out how to correct this. It obviously is a reoccurring issue.

bon'chan

Level 1

4 points

Jul 23, 2016 10:47 PM in response to oijulia

I have experienced this problem quite a bit while traveling in japan w my iphone 6. I found that turning it to airplane mode and only using wifi solves the problem; it seems that when we are not in airplane mode then the phone is still looking for a connection in a foreign and thus unrecognizable place and then the little robot inside gets confused.

Aug 24, 2016 6:39 PM in response to oijulia

I Am going thru this issue right Now. I have restored, updated my Mac mini, updated iTunes, started as new. Everything the tech support has offered. All 7 of them. Now I can't get anyone to email me back. This issue started after I received a replacement phone from a repair. The most frustrating thing Ever. It's funny I see posts on the forum try all told me this has never happenEd before. has anyone found a resolution?

Sep 9, 2016 4:24 PM in response to oijulia

I work for a carrier and this is definitely not a carrier issue. iPhones activate on apple's servers and does not require cell data to do so. Most times you have to connect to wifi to even activate. This is an apple issue.

Balukia

Level 1

4 points

Oct 30, 2016 3:33 AM in response to oijulia

I have encountered the same problem with my iPhone 5S ios 9.3.3, I bought it second hand and it was unlocked. I tried to restore so that I could back up my phone. I tried activating with my new SIM and I got an error message "SIM CARD NOT REGISTERED". Then I inserted the appropriate SIM Card which is at&t. And now in the process of activating it, it never gets to the Home-screen. It keeps saying "Activation Required", I upgraded the firmware to ios 10.1 and still I get the error message "Activation Required" right when I click the "Get Started" which is supposed to take me to the Homescreen. Please any Solution??

Nov 8, 2016 7:13 PM in response to oijulia

I'm not sure why there hasn't been someone on apples end that has not been able to help any of us. However this is the solution that I have came to figure out. (Hope this helps everyone).

Go to:

Settings/Cellular/Cellular Data Options/Roaming/ then un-check International CDMA &/or Data Roaming.

I've un-checked both above and it was the only solution that I've figured out thus far to work.

Feb 3, 2017 5:24 AM in response to razmee209

Hi! Simply go to settings on your device (ipad or iphone) and go to icloud (it's on the same place as where you turn on airplane mode etc, scroll further down and go to "find my iphone" ( or find my ipad) and turn it to "off". It worked for me thank goodness because i'm in europe and couldn't access my ebooks, email, or use the internet.

I'm posting this here as a reply to first comment to save people from reading 4 pages of responses to get to this solution. I'll post it as a comment too! Thanks to the person who suggested this! It saved my vacation!!! :-)

Feb 3, 2017 5:25 AM in response to oijulia

I'm posting this here and in a reply to first comment to save people from reading 4 pages of responses to get to this solution. Thanks sooooo much to the person who suggested this! It saved my vacation!!! :-)

Help! Recurrent "activation required" message after upgrade to iOS 8.1