imessage and Facetime sign in activation error iPad ios8.1.2

MY IPad is WiFi only. I lost my iMessage suddenly several weeks ago. Then they had the update, but it didn't help me. I talked to Apple and a senior tech and several days later, last Friday morning, it came back on. I'm not sure what caused it to come back on because when my tech called me back Saturday, she was surprised when I told her it was back. She said they had been working on the problem. I hope They get yours fixed soon. I'm Would keep calling until they do. I noticed that a lot of other people on this thread got theirs back at the same time I did.

i finally am back on....had to do a total restore, but my senior tech was right there the whole time, and it is just like it was two weeks ago! Thanks to Lyz!!

Don't ever want to go through this again...bye all its been fun!

thanks to everyone, without this forum I would have been lost. You have all been great.

If you're using 8.1.2, BabeNewYear, your best bet is to upgrade to 8.1.3. It says in the update description that it fixes signing in to iMessage and FaceTime. And if tthat ddoesn't work, reset your device and restore from your iCloud backup (make sure your backups are recent).

I had to call in and insist on getting a senior tech. She walked me through a total restore...wiped it, set up as a new iPad to sign into messages and FaceTime. Then restored it from iTunes. That worked for me, but I was down for two weeks and the updated didn't solve my problem. I am also out of warranty but was not charged. Good luck!

I too had to back up to iTunes, restore to factory setting and then restore using the back up. this worked whereas nothing else had. I have been up and running sine last Tuesday when I did this (I had been unable to connect since Jan 21st and the recent update didn't do anything). The restore was easy - the only thing that didn't work was Videos but I just re downloaded them from Purchased. All my other passwords and settings were there.

I also have had this problem. Didn't notice it until today, but all of my messages on my iPad (with the 8.1.3 update) are from 1/20/2015. This is extremely inconvenient. I was stranded on campus at 10pm with a dead phone and was going to use my iPad to send out a message to get a ride home and that's when i came across this outrageous bug in the system. Absolutely ridiculous.

Need fix on this ASAP or a new update that fixes these issues. iOS 8 has been nothing but horrible from the beginning. Its been almost a month since this was originally posted, this issue should have been resolved long ago.

OH MY GOSH!!!! My iPad iMessage has been out since Jan. 20th. I have tried everything short of clear all and restoring from a backup. I just tried this and BAM!! It is now up and running. How could the fix to this problem have been as easy as entering a fake Apple ID and fake password and then attempting with my real one? Have no clue why or how but bless you for posting this fix!

I just tried this approach, and it didn't work.

The first time, I signed out of iMessage, then attempted to sign in with a bogus AppleID. Once that had completely failed, I tried again with my real one. But the result was "Waiting for activation..."

The second time, I signed out of iMessage, Facetime and iCloud, then went back to Messages and tried again with a bogus AppleID for iMessage. After it failed, I tried the real one, but still was stuck at "Waiting for Activation..."

The third time, I signed out of everything, and then tried logging in with a bogus Apple ID. Once it had "forgotten" my own AppleID, I restarted the phone, then tried logging in with my proper AppleID. Nope, still "Waiting for Activation..."

I suspect the symptoms are the same for several related problems. For example, I'm having this problem on an iPhone, but I don't have the equivalent problem on my iPad at all.

Hi, I have had the same problem on my iPad for two weeks. I have done nothing major just kept checking daily if it was working. Today to my delight I have both back working, hopefully it will stay that way. Think Apple must have done something. I hope everyone else has the same result. I will be reluctant to update in future though, this has been very frustrating . Best wishes to everyone Karen xxx

GLad I've been watching this thread for info! The fake id & password thing worked! However, now I have a new problem. When I try to send a new imessage from my ipad & enter a contact to send to, the contact name is red & when I tapped on it, it said the number isn't registered with imessage. Even though I know it is as I was messaging to that number before the huge imessage issue & it works on my iphone. Plus it's only some iphone numbers in my contact list, not all. Never been so frustrated with Apple products since I started using them years ago!

I Have waited a month now For a solution to be posted. Could not find one that worked. So the solution that workEd for me and it was unfortunate. I reset my iPad as a new one. iMessage works fine now. Backed everything up to iCloud first. During the rest when asked to restore from iCloud answer no and set up like the first day you purchased it. Once you get past the new set up sign into your iCloud account and recover your data that way. Mine works fine now. Hope this helps.

Yep absolutely worked on 2 different iPads pre Air models

After dummy ID entered and fails, exit settings and go back in enter your real Apple ID and BINGO. Then go launch the app iMessage or FT and verify then all is GOOD

😎

Thanks, Vince! This worked for me as soon as I tried! I was at the Apple Store yesterday and they had me wipe my iPad and then restore it from backup and I still had the activation error. I tried your idea and it worked! Thanks!

Having this same "network connection" problem. Have tried all of the above options, including entering in bogus info after 'reset all'. I can get imessage to work for a day or two before it breaks again. And by work I mean the texts are delayed in sending, for some odd reason. Every time I go to Settings> iMessage or settings > FaceTime it just asks me to sign in again. Then throws the connection error. When I reset all my settings I get the option to turn off iMessage and FaceTime. But after i do a reboot those settings are still checked (even though I did the reboot after I unchecked them and forced closed the settings app)

the only thing I haven't tried is wiping the iPad and restoring it as new, since it hasn't seemed to work for anyone else. My imessage still works on my phone. only having the problem on my iPad air I bought in September.

Does anyone have any other suggestions??

Just bought an iPad mini 3 and iPad Air 2 today and started setting it up. One of those was for my wife and she didn't even have an Apple Id to begin with. So the mini where I started setting up her access ran into this exact same issue. The iPad Air 2 setup just fine with my Apple Id. Her new Id works fine everywhere else but the mini . I tried my id on the mini and it doesn't work. So I am beginning to think that its a hardware issue really. The iOS version on the mini is iOS 8.2.

Unfortunately, I got the iPads from my Service Provider (Singtel - Singapore) and I know that they will ask me to go to an Apple Store to get this sorted. Am I well within my rights to be asking for a replacement at the Apple Store?