imessage and Facetime sign in activation error iPad ios8.1.2

I am so surprised about this problem with the infallible iPad !😉

I purchased this iPad 3 mini exactly for this feature : Facetime (or shall I call it farcetime) to be able to communicate with my kids overseas. after 2 hours of frustration I start looking online for a solution, just to realize I am not the only one in this boat , having problems with Messages and Facetime.

Apple : can you suggest a solution please ! How would you expect a PC user to turn to apple devices when you kill his enthusiasm on the first day ?

Sorry Mcfloyd49 - this is not addressed to you , just venting my frustration.

Purchased for similar reasons and having the same experience.

According to the people I have talked to at apple, the do not particularly care what is reported here. I have tried to draw attention to this thread during my calls and I am told they cannot and will not use any unconfirmed reports that may or may not have similar issues. They do not monitor these forums and do not trend issues from the information posted here.

They would prefer to deal with individual issues and not acknowledge the possibility there is a larger issue. Maintain the illusion that apple is perfect and the any negative experience with their product is rare and isolated.

Everybody needs to call in report the issue and have it escalated to the engineering team.

On a side note... it leave a bad taste in my mouth that out of warranty devices will require a $29 fee to get support when the issue seem to be created by apple and not the user.

I noticed that support doesn't want to know about anyone who doesn't actually contact them, that's why I have been almost trolling this place trying to get people to call in. Or write or chat.

I don't think they are charging for people out of warranty on this issue. At least I haven't read about anyone being charged.

My clock is as accurate as I can get it - it runs a little slow even on auto update compared to an app I installed called Emerald Sequoia. Not a lot slow, the most has been .053 seconds. And since I'm getting the time to compare from an app, it runs on the internet and can be off because of network congestion.

I did some research. The wifi iPad Minis keep time internally and have a reputation for being off, timewise. I assume the ones with a cellular radio get their time off the tower just like cell phones do. I haven't figured out if syncing the iPad to iTunes would make a difference - I know when I did a backup, restore and 8.3 update via iTunes on my computer it didn't help my message problem.

I have also been experiencing issues with signing in to FaceTime and iMessages on my Apple devices. I have had several phone calls with Apple regarding this issue and the supervisor I spoke with told me that there is a problem on Apple's servers and the engineers are trying to figure out what is going on. I am supposed to receive a phone call after this issue is resolved. So far, I have not heard anything and I have since tried to sign in to FaceTime and iMessages and I still cannot.

The supervisor I have been talking to just keeps telling me the engineers are still trying to figure it out. I'm kinda surprised that it's taking this long. He hasn't said what they are looking at but he did tell me that they're still needing me to keep my AppleID in test mode.

AT LAST! Working!

I don't know if Apple engineers fixed something or it was something I did. But here's what happened.

Fixing the time has helped people in the past and recently. I downloaded an app that tracks time so I could try to manually adjust the time. It's called Emerald Sequoia. It also shows how far off your clock is and mine was between .05 and .02 seconds slow. That's still really close considering the app might not be exact.

A little bit ago I downloaded another app and because it had ads I went to airplane mode and when I was done I got out of airplane mode and checked the time app and saw it said I was .001 second slow so I tried logging into messages and it went right through. FaceTime too.

I don't know if it was a coincidence that it started working when my time was off by only .001 second or they fixed my id. If it was just the time, why did my friend's AppleID work on my iPad and my ID didn't work on hers? And my husband's AppleID worked on his iPod touch but not on my iPad? And my AppleID didn't work anywhere?

Anyway, have faith! And keep calling.

'shana

edited to add, I had time on auto update all day. I didn't reboot or anything, it just started working

I haven't heard anything official.

And the few people I know about who suddenly have it working again all fiddled with the time on their iPads.

I just can't imagine it's so fiddly that it wouldn't log in at .02 seconds slow but would at .001 seconds slow.

And why would it let my friend log in when I couldn't? And my husband could log in on his iPod but not my iPad?

I think some people have had their problem fixed when they get the correct time on their iPad Mini and some have had behind the scenes help from AppleCare engineers who so far aren't saying anything.

The only suggestions I have are keep calling Apple, and try to get your time as accurate as possible.

Glad some seem to resolving this but it would be nice to know why some validations work and not others on the same iPad.

Is it that older ID's which have already had validations done for other devices and have something set up to allow them to bypass the time sync routine?

Why should iPad clock chips be out by a few seconds/milliseconds in the first place?

When switching time zones, are just the hours and minutes changed so the seconds/millisecond error stays?

Interesting on the iTunes element as my replacement iPad mini 3 worked (iOS8.0) and I now remember that I lost iMessage and Facetime AFTER a back-up sync with iTunes - so is a time signature passed over as part of a sync? I've noticed the PC (although with an internet time sync) is not the same as emarald sequoia by a couple of seconds.

And is there a difference in the Apple OS using the simcard to provide primary time sync and our problems have been wifi only devices ??

as to whether Apple engineers have cracked the problem - I haven't had a phone call to say they think they've fixed it and is it working OK !!

I suppose if those of us who have at last got them working could try playing with the time settings again to see if we can re-produce the fault and then solve it again - but frankly I'm not that brave!!

Glad some seem to resolving this but it would be nice to know why some validations work and not others on the same iPad.

Is it that older ID's which have already had validations done for other devices and have something set up to allow them to bypass the time sync routine?

Mine was working originally - I had it working for 4 days. I set my AppleID up in January and my husband's up in March. I didn't try logging onto his (working) iPod Touch till after my iPad imessage quit working. I couldn't get my ID to work on his iPod Touch and his ID didn't work on my Mini. I had an ID from last year I set up for another reason but never used - it didn't work either. The only ID that worked was my friend's and she has had Apple products for years - computers, iPad, phones. So maybe.

Why should iPad clock chips be out by a few seconds/milliseconds in the first place?

From the MacObserver http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/what_time_is_it_your_ipad_may_not_be_sure

"The Wi-Fi-only iPad gets its time from an internal clock that, unlike Mac OS X, is not slaved to an external time standard. As a result, your iPad’s clock can drift, sometimes substantially, and some apps may be affected.

This Wi-Fi-only iPad clock drift is an issue for astronomers, laboratory workers, pilots, and other technical people who may be depending on the iPad’s clock because of other related technical apps they use that access that clock."

There's a lot more in the article.

When switching time zones, are just the hours and minutes changed so the seconds/millisecond error stays?

I have no idea, but I assume so.

Interesting on the iTunes element as my replacement iPad mini 3 worked (iOS8.0) and I now remember that I lost iMessage and Facetime AFTER a back-up sync with iTunes - so is a time signature passed over as part of a sync? I've noticed the PC (although with an internet time sync) is not the same as emarald sequoia by a couple of seconds.

Emerald Sequoiacan be off because of network congestion but seems to be close to internet time.

More from the article:

"It is suspected, but not confirmed, that Apple has disabled the NTP protocol on the iPad to save the battery power needed to fire up the Wi-Fi radio periodically and connect to an NTP server. Wi-Fi may not be available at that very moment, and that would be a waste of battery power. Even connecting an iPad to a Mac or PC for a sync and backup doesn’t update the iPad clock, and that seems like an oversight."

And is there a difference in the Apple OS using the simcard to provide primary time sync and our problems have been wifi only devices ??

Yes, the iPads with a SIM card get their time from the cell tower. The wifi ones don't. I don't know where exactly the wifi ones get the auto time. maybe a crowd sourced wifi/bluetooth?

as to whether Apple engineers have cracked the problem - I haven't had a phone call to say they think they've fixed it and is it working OK !!

I suppose if those of us who have at last got them working could try playing with the time settings again to see if we can re-produce the fault and then solve it again - but frankly I'm not that brave!!

I haven't gotten a call yet either and I emailed my tech guy to let him know. He has crazy hours and usually calls me after 9pm so I don't know if he's even at work now. My time has drifted back to being .05 seconds off and it's still working. I refuse to turn it off to see if I can get back in lol.

I currently don't have access to my husband's ipod touch or my friend's ipad but when I do I will try logging on there to see if my ID now works across devices.

I agree. That's why I'm telling people to call in. I think Apple must be doing *something* behind the scenes. One ID at a time. If it was just the time thing, no one's ID should work on the affected iPad but established IDs DO work. It's the newer ones that don't. For a few people, getting the time right worked. There was an earlier problem where that worked and maybe it carried over. There very well be multiple issues but without feedback from Apple we're all just floundering around guessing. I suspect it was a coincidence that my ID worked when my time was almost exact - but I have no way of knowing unless someone from Apple tells me something.

I have the same issue, tried all the suggestions but still not working.

I reported the issue and the senior advisor said its a problem at the database end but that was over a week ago,

had no further updates.

Tried the time app suggested by Shana reported an error of -0.0001 but still wont login.

Recently tried my wifes iphone created appleID and that works no problems.

I opened a post on here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6986693?answerId=28084743022#28084743022&ac_cid=op123456#28084743

I was wondering if it was just coincidence. I'm sorry it didn't work for you.

MY suggestion for all that are still waiting, keep calling your senior support person. Make sure they know you still can't get in.

Speaking of which, mine hasn't contacted me since I emailed him to tell him it's working. Guess I will need to call and leave a voicemail.

It sure seems like they are fixing this problem one user at a time.

Perhaps they are - but isn't it strange that those of us who have got it working played around with the time sync and then got in. You would have thought that if it is being fixed ID by ID for those who have the problem logged would have had a phone call at least then we could feed that back to this discussion! By the way my time clock is -2.552 seconds off, but since being validated, I haven't lost iMessages of facetime...... YET!

mini 3 iOS8.0

My wife had this same problem with her iPad Mini 3. See my post in this forum from Apr 15. This problem was worked on by the support people at the local apple store, to no avail. The "Genius Bar" staff at the apple store had their Apple support people on the phone to help, to no avail. I was provided a case number so an Apple support person could work on the problem, and after numerous phone calls, resets, etc. no resolution. Ultimately it was "sent to engineering". After about a week, i received a note that said i should attempt Facetime and iMessage again. The message said ... " our engineering team have made changes to your device". The problem was resolved. I reported back to the support person the positive result, asked for a better explanation, and expressed my concern that the problem can re appear as i have seen reported in this forum. I asked for this in an email. I received a phone call today and i was told that an explanation was not not necessary and was not forthcoming. As of now, the applications are working. Although all the people i dealt with from Apple were most pleasant and understanding, i have little confidence in their overall technical support. I am sorry i cannot report to others what the resolution was. That was what i was hoping to do in this forum. I suspect a bug in their authentication process with Facetime and iMessage, or a corrupted directory of Apple ids. As best that i can determine, there was no adjustment to the time setting or time synchchronization. As i reported, i was unable to glean any additional information from Apple as to what the root cause of the problem was, nor how the problem was resolved. iMessage and Face time are currently working. Best of luck to others with this same problem.

lamsipad wrote:

Perhaps they are - but isn't it strange that those of us who have got it working played around with the time sync and then got in. You would have thought that if it is being fixed ID by ID for those who have the problem logged would have had a phone call at least then we could feed that back to this discussion! By the way my time clock is -2.552 seconds off, but since being validated, I haven't lost iMessages of facetime...... YET!

mini 3 iOS8.0

My clock is off too but iMessage is still working. I logged into Facetime but haven't tried using it. I don't know of anyone who got a call this round saying 'hey we fixed your problem try now'.

All very strange. I admit, I worked in software tech support years ago and this isn't the way it normally works. Maybe this is the way it works at Apple, I don't know. I told my friend (Apple Fan) that it was working and after telling her I don't know why it started working she said "See, it just works!" Good thing we weren't in the same room at the time ... 😉

Oh and I looked back at my phone log. My first call to AppleCare was March 20.