iMessage and FaceTime unable to sign in (IOS 9)

I had this problem, iMessage and FaceTime was not activating, I tried so much stuff that everyone suggested. Then tried resetting all settings (not delete content ) settings>general>reset all settings and it worked for me. Although you have to change minor things to your liking, i.e. Ringtones, wallpaper etc.

hope this helps someone else, I ripped my hair out trying to figure out something.

Update. I have got both iMessage and Facetime working. Here's the summary.

In order:

• If you use 2-step verification for iCloud, temporarily turn it off. (more on this later)
• Sign out, in this order, of iMessage, Facetime then iCloud all together on your phone
• Turn off wifi
• Power cycle phone (hold 2x buttons, wait for restart)
• Sign into iCloud with dumb 1 step verification
• Sign into iMessage and Facetime with the same dumb verification
  at this point, you are likely still "waiting for verification" don't worry
• Go to Date & Time and disable "Automatic"
• Power cycle the phone again, with the 2 button hard reset
• Check to verify iMessage and Facetime are now working
• If so, re-enable 2 step verification for your iCloud account

This worked for me. I did somewhere along the line follow someone's advice to also re-set the device settings (which *****) so that was potentially part of my solution too but I doubt it. If the above doesn't work I would recommend starting by resetting the device settings and then try the whole process over again.

Too bad Apple's dev team have given up on QC these days. RIP Jobs.

If the issue is that iMessages are not showing up on your iPad and that your phone number does not appear in the iMessages settings on your iPad, I had that same issue. Here is my fix (based upon something I read on the Apple web site). I went into the messaging settings on my iPhone >send/receive and activated use Apple ID. I saw on the Apple Web site that unless the phone is using Apple ID, no phone number will appear on the other devices. I had mistakenly assumed that the phone was using my Apple ID for iMessages. It wasn't. As soon as I activated it for iMessages, the phone number showed up on my iPad and the iMessages began appearing there as they had before iOS 9 update. Problem solved!

unkn0wnvariable wrote:

Anyway I decided to see if I could log in using my primary @me.com ID address instead of my alternate @icloud.com one and that worked, I didn't even have to disable 2 factor or generate an app password.

This solved the problem for me – thank you. My Apple ID was originally a @mac.com address. The Apple ID site says that my @me.com and @iCloud.com addresses are aliases of my @mac.com dress. Using my @iCloud.com address, I was getting the "error with activation" message and tried all other suggestions, but it worked right away when I signed in using my original @mac.com address.

This worked very well, SOLVED ! thanks alot 🙂

resetting all settings (not delete content ) settings>general>reset all settings

Take a look at these articles:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204408

iOS and OS X: Link your phone number and Apple ID for use with FaceTime and iMessage - Apple Support

If you get an error when trying to activate iMessage or FaceTime - Apple Support

http://www.igeeksblog.com/fix-imessage-waiting-for-activation/

After trying all of the tips here, I finally wiped one iPad clean to see it if would work - it did. It only took an hour or so to rebuild which was better than sitting on the phone with Apple support. I tried resetting network, then resetting all settings, and finally thought WTH and did it. Clean iPad and iMessage works like a champ. Not pleased at all with Apple instore support.

Hi there - I reported the same issue on this board a few days after the IOS 9 update. After a trip to the Genius Bar that revealed no solution other than to: a) wait for a patch from Apple, or b) rebuild my iPad, I tried all of the suggestions on this thread and nothing worked. The guy at the Genius Bar said he'd not recommend option b as it "may or may not fix your problem."

After finding the problem on 2/4 of my Apple products, I wiped my oldest iPad clean by resetting all settings and erasing all content. Rebuilding took about an hour per iPad, and it wasn't as bad as I thought. I just reloaded my apps from the App Store, reset settings, and done. In fact, both iPads run faster and the battery life is as it should be.

You've got nothing to lose, so back up your content and start over. It stopped the incessant cursing at my iPad, so it was worth the time.

Good luck!

PS....iPad 2 Air 128 and iPad Mini 2.

Just encountered this problem but it was caused by me doing a "Reset All Settings" and doing another one didn't fix it. When trying to log in to FaceTime I was also getting an error that said "a verified email address is required to sign in to FaceTime" even though all my email addresses are verified.

Anyway I decided to see if I could log in using my primary @me.com ID address instead of my alternate @icloud.com one and that worked, I didn't even have to disable 2 factor or generate an app password.

I had to sign out of iMessage on my computer and all of my devices, then I did the reset of the content on my iPad and restarted my iPhone and iPad mini. Once I did all of that, then I signed into my iPhone first, then iPad, and then computer and now everything is syncing again.

Hi there,

Not sure if you solved your problem but i had an issue with not being to activate iMessage on my mac air. A very helpful apple technician resolved by simple going to my date and time settings and ticking the automatic setup as I had tried to set them manually. Apparently it is a security feature of Macs. Anyway, thought i would pass it on as quality customer service is often missing these days but this guy was awesome and fixed the issue in five minutes after my three days of torture.

IT will fail at first. Then just turn off the iPad and turn it back on. Try again. It'll work.

Factory reset (using iTunes) also worked for me -- at first I got the same error, but then some switching off/on fixed it...

When I Updated to ISO 9 from my iPhone 6 I was at work and when i returned home my iMessage was not communicating with my mac mini so i tried everything posted on this forum. then I restored my phone from my latest backup at home close to my mac mini and everything worked perfectly. Hope This helped... I think that if you do an update on an iPad, iPhone, and you have everything set up on all devices at home, it is better to do your updates at home so all devices can link at once ...

I Updated both my phone and iPad and could not get my iPad to accept my appleID .. Tried all the usual stuff...FINALLY after 3 days of not accessing iPad messages.. I went to iPhone turned Off iMessage, waited and turned it back on and reentered my appleID, and went to iPad and entered appleID ... It took!