imessage and Facetime sign in activation error iPad ios8.1.2

"Although all the people i dealt with from Apple were most pleasant and understanding, i have little confidence in their overall technical support."

That was my feeling too. I still haven't heard back from anyone. I'm fixing to take my account out of test mode since my app is working and they seem to not want do any followup.

I wound up talking to my senior tech person quite a lot, some days for an hour. Not that we got a whole lot done besides learning how to back up via iTunes, learning to take an iPad screenshot and me telling him everything I have tried. He was very pleasant to talk to but seemed a little lost on what new things to try. I couldn't talk to an engineer which is what I would have liked to do. So I'd tell senior tech my theories and ideas and he would email the engineers. I don't think he got to talk to them either. I even offered to take my iPad in person to the engineers if they were in my state. Anything to help.

It took 3 calls to get my account into test mode. Which really was because he always had to pretty much start at the beginning plus he was very friendly.

Test mode made me uneasy since they want your info: your password and security answers! Since it is a new account w no credit card attached I did that. Not that I have any idea if it helped. Which is why as soon as I realized they weren't ever going to get back to me I got out of test mode by changing my password and security questions.

He also kept wanting to screen share. Every time I said no because I didn't want to give access to anyone to my computer. I also couldn't figure out why he wanted to screen share, there was nothing wrong with my PC. I think it's a Mac thing.

I hope everyone gets this sorted out. I saw a previous reply said they were working on an update for the ipads. I hope that helps.

Just go the first acknowledgement from Apple that I am not the only user to be experiencing this issue. All other calls deliberately steered away from any such possibility. My second level left a voicemail this morning basically the issue is still being investigated. No further updates will be available until engineering let them know.

In other words don't call us we'll call you. There is not expected timeframe for a resolution.

From the first I was told that they see this 2-3 times a week. By the time I got to senior tech, he said the same thing but it sounded like mine was the first one they couldn't figure out right away. If there was something I did to fix it I really don't know what it could have been or I would let everyone know. I did have it in airplane mode right before I tried it last but don't see how that would make a difference. It was out of airplane mode when I tried.

i Still haven't heard back from Apple acknowledging my email or VM I left once mine started working.

Hi,

Just to add some further examples to the FaceTime fiasco. My parents had an Ipad Air and sunbsequent;y bought a Mini Ipad 3.

Facetime was working on the Air with their original apple id. They couldn't remember their password when trying to setup the mini iPad though and changed the password. The result was that neither the Ipad Air or Ipad Mini would log into Facetime.

I have tried all the solutions on here and the only thing that worked for the Ipad Air was to setup a new apple id.

Moving on to the Mini ipad neither the original id nor the newly created id (which works on the Air) worked. I'd just about given up hope when I tried another (my own) Apple ID on the Mini ipad and this worked.

This isn't a great solution though as my parents want to Facetime me and their grandson and we both have the same apple ids on our respective ipad minis.

I think the only solution is for my Mum to call Applecare. I really can't believe how poor and bizarre this whole thing is.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Richard

Yes, she needs to call AppleCare and tell them it's an AppleID problem.

I think they need to stop using your AppleID first so that they will know when either of the 2 IDs they have work.

I'm a little confused, but they have an iPad Air that had a working AppleID for FaceTime. They got an iPad Mini 3 and went to set it up and use Facetime but forgot the password to the ID working on the Air, so they changed the password. Then neither iPad could sign into FaceTime. So they made a new ID and that worked on the Air but not on the mini 3. But your ID worked on the mini 3

That makes sense because with this new problem, new IDs (and recent ones) don't seem to work on the mini 3 for FaceToime or iMessage for some reason. My ID didn't work on anything, my husband's worked on his iPod but not my iPad mini and my friend's id worked fine on my iPad. Her id is several years old.

Anyway, your parents need to decide which id they want to use where.

I can see that they might want a different id for the Air and mini when it comes to Facetime. I don't know the best way to decide which id should go to which iPad, but once they have the Air working (and really it should work with either ID) I'd use the other for the mini.

Once y'all have that sorted out then make sure the mini 3 has the time as close as you can get it and try again.

So for example if they leave the new ID with the Air (the one that works) and use the older ID (that's not working on the air or mini) on the mini. Then have her call Apple and tell them it's an ID problem, that their original ID doesn't work on the mini for FaceTime and iMessage, that they tried a new ID that works on the air but not the mini. And that they tried yours and it does work on the mini. (She needs to tell them that so they don't go round and round with it's a problem with the iPad Mini and try charging you for AppleCare or try to convince her she needs to send it in for a refurb replacement)

They should pass her up the ladder till she talks to a Senior Tech or second line tech. They talk to the engineers. They will talk to her and take down info but don't hold your breath that they will have any suggestions that work. But she needs to call in anyway.

Mine suddenly started working after a month. I just kept trying to sign in and it suddenly worked. I have no idea why, whether Apple did something or I happened to try at the exact right cosmic moment- AppleCare quit returning my emails and phone calls.

Hope that made sense and it helped!! Good luck

Same problem, with a 4th generation iPod touch. Supposedly elevated to an "engineering" level of problem resolution, but I'm not holding my breath. Really *** because I wanted to set this up to use imessage with my 85-year old father, and it looks like it won't get resolved any time soon.

I Saw elsewhere that someone was able to get FaceTime and iMessage working today by setting up a new AppleID just for the FaceTime and iMessage. Asked him to post here.

MIght be an idea for people with new devices, maybe Apple fixed the problem on newly created AppleIDs?

Even though I'm having this problem with an iPod and this is an iPad thread, I think there is a connection. I'm willing to be that the iMessage IDs are email addressed and not telephone numbers. Am I right?

Sorry it didn't work.

Yes, they're associated with an email address. And I'm pretty sure you have the ID problem we're discussing even if you're trying with an iPod.

While I couldn't log into FaceTime and iMessage on my iPad, I couldn't log in on my husband's 4 gen iPod Touch either. His ID worked on his iPod, but not on my iPad. My friend's id worked on both her iPad mini 1 and my iPad mini 3

It has to be an AppleID problem of some kind.

The other poster used a different email address to create the new AppleID, not a cloud address. He's using it just for FaceTime and iMessage. Unfortunately we're all in the dark... 😟 because Apple isn't communicating anything except 'we're working on it' and if someone's ID starts working, Apple won't say why (if they even know)

Sutton Owl - hope they sort it out quickly for them!

JGW_Canada wrote:

I have called multiple times leaving requests for an update. No returned call after the last few requests.

I am now getting the "if we ignore him, maybe he will go away support model."

I think they must be getting more and more calls and have nothing to tell people.

I don't even really know what I did to get mine working again. I know I downloaded a calculator so I had to log into apps/itunes, I downloaded the free app (calculator) and when I realized there were ads, put it in airplane mode to avoid the ads. When I took it out of airplane mode that's when I realized how close my time was to being correct and tried and got into iMessage.

This is such a fiasco I don't even know where to begin. Add me to the list of people experiencing this maddening problem.

Bought an iPad mini 3 two days ago for my husband's grandfather as a birthday present. The man is turning 87 tomorrow. I wanted to make an Apple ID for him and get everything set up, as he is new to iPad. Load it up with apps and tweak the settings so he doesn't have to. I did just that, even loaded the new Apple ID up with money so he could get to purchasing apps himself as soon as he got hold of the iPad.

Well, while setting it up and after I had installed a ton of apps and spent a couple of hours tweaking everything, I notice his Apple ID is not logged into iMessage or FaceTime. No biggie, I thought, and proceeded to try and log him in. What followed was an entire evening of maddening attempts to resolve the problem. I went through all the rigamarole, wiped and reset the iPad about 3 times, tried different networks, checked clock, basically EVERYTHING listed in this thread. Alongside that I must have tried to log him in 100 times since then, but I either get the "network" error message or I just get bounced back to the login screen without comment.

This is especially frustrating and upsetting for me because this iPad is supposed to be a GIFT for someone. And tomorrow I get to gift him a product and then proceed to explain that it doesn't even work the way it's supposed to! iMessage and FaceTime were supposed to be the two highlights and one of the main two reasons I chose it as a gift. The man doesn't have a smartphone, so this is a way for him to keep in touch with friends and family who do own iOS devices... or so I thought!

Just posting mostly to vent... apparently there's no real solution for this so I don't know what to do other than wait for it to "magically" work like many others have. I am a loyal Apple customer but honestly I find something like this unacceptable, and it has definitely tarnished Apple's reputation in my eyes.

Let's try to narrow down what all of us who are having this problem have in common. I've already surmised that the iMessage we can't log onto is based on an email address rather than a phone number, right? What else? I tried to set mine up for my 85 year old father; and I see siberianji tried to set it up for the 87 year old grandfather of her husband....does date of birth having something to do with the glitch? And Apple ID that was set up by someone else, a relative?

I wonder if they really have engineers working on this or if they are just ignoring the problem.

'shana,

It's all AppleIDs that were used for FaceTime/iMessage for the first time after the middle of March

My Mum had an apple id from late 2013, which was working on an ipad air until she changed the password and it now won't work on the ipad air or a new mini ipad 3 so this isn't quite right unless the apple id is somehow refreshed on change of password.

New apple id

My Dad setup a new apple id. This works on the ipad air but not on the mini ipad.

Hope this helps

What I was thinking, is that the AppleID wasn't used on an iPad Mini 3 for the first time for FaceTime/ imessage until after the middle of March. AppleIDs that were in use on other devices or even on the iPad Mini 3 but not actually ever signed into FaceTime or iMessage on the iPad Mini 3 until after the middle of March

I don't know why changing the password on the iPad Air caused it to stop working there.

This whole thing makes my brain hurt.