Cannot Activate iPad IOS 9.3

Anyone seeing this?

Apple has acknowledge the issue with activation server difficulties with certain iPad models and have stated that they are working on this issue and that it will be resolved as soon as possible.

I was able to unbrick mine using DFU mode, and to my surprise it now says it is running 9.3. I'm actually writing this with my iPad 2.

Yeah, that worked for me, I tried twice the Update option with no avail, restore to factory defaults worked, later a manually update the apps an all data, but something was lost, the particular data of every app...

Same thing here. I've tried the many suggestions with no luck. I've found a new suggestion that may help, however it will wipe your ipad. But if you're as frustrated as me, you'll be willing to wipe it so that you don't have to spend a 3rd straight night trying to figure out what the heck is going on with your ipad.

• Plug your device into your computer with a USB cable.
• Power off your iPad 2.
• Press and hold the Power button for three seconds.
• Press and hold the Power and Home buttons for 10 seconds.
• Release the Power button, but continue holding the Home button for another 15 seconds.
• At this point, iTunes should alert you that it has detected a device in recovery mode.
• Follow the instructions iTunes gives you to restore your iPad 2.

The itunes screen is suggesting there are 39 minutes to go for the software update. Plenty of time to play around on my new Samsung Tab S2 !!!! If this attempt will fix my ipad, I can guarantee you it, and all my other apple junk, is going on ebay tomorrow.

Hang on guys....

The vast amount of complains should have reached Apple engineers by now and they are coming with a fix for this.

If you're in no rush and don't want to go through the hassle of restoring your data back or did not have a backup of your iOS device, then wait for an iTunes update.

If not and have little concern on losing your data then start up the ipad in recovery/DFU mode and perform a restore.

Every single time there's an update, Apple always screws up either Ipad or Iphone, something always goes wrong. I'm sick and tired of this mess and moving on to Samsung.

I have exactly the same problem, I want my iPad back! 😠

Earlier if I remember correctly, you could only upgrade through iTunes, which became a pain during upgrades with large files. I remember onetime I had to download through a torrent as every time files downloaded from apple server were corrupted. Nowadays its a breeze! But never have I faced bricking of my iPad2, thats really bad karma.

What, How, Where, When, Why? Now to be or not to be is the question.

Please un-brick my iPad2. Tried everything!

I have the same issue
Cannot activate IPAD 2 after Upgrade to IOS 9.3

Error message: Your IPAD could not be activated because the activation server is temporarily unavailable

Apple engineers are working on.it. Affects Apple iPad 2. Mine won't even go back to 9.2. My iPad is currently bricked.

Why aren't they answer here? Is there any confirmation? Like Twitter or smth?

Just keep in mind, this Problem is there since before January 11, 2016.

I would not trust any one about this if it's not an Apple coastguard Boy.

There are a few replies that give this same recommendation, so a nod to those as well... but this was the one I followed and it worked great.

We've got lots of iPads, iPhones, and iPods floating around the house, with older models getting passed to the kids when we upgrade at the top. Kick in the conspiracy theories, because I was seriously thinking that, when the iPad 2 my daughter uses got bricked by the 9.3 update, that maybe it was time to buy a new iPad for me and pass my "old" one down the line. Sounds like a good excuse, actually, but I didn't want to lay out the cash right now.

Then I thought to give a search for others with the same problem, and lo and behold it's everywhere:

The 9.3 update is definitively bad for at least some iPad 2 owners. Maybe even more than just a few.

I did the DFU restore before, reinstalling 9.3 from scratch and copying over a backup (thank God I had one). It worked... and then it didn't. My daughter was midway through using the device and it reverted back to the failed activation screen.

So last night, I followed gino55's steps and downgraded to 9.2.1. I let it sit overnight while it restored the backup, to alleviate some of the pain of waiting through that again. This AM it was back to functioning, by all appearances, just fine. We'll see if it crashes to the activation screen again, but my guess is no.

I'm sure Apple will come out with a fix as soon as possible. But if you don't want or can't afford to wait, try the steps above.

They do work.

Just a precaution... I did the restore with iOS 9.3 first and it worked for a day before it crashed and went back to the failed activation screen. Downgrading to 9.2.1 appears to be a safer route.

Dann, I don't have "deep knowledge"... but it looks like the best fix is the one that recommends downgrading to 9.2.1 until Apple comes out with a fix. I've tried all the other recommendations, including a restore to reinstall 9.3. Ultimately, it's only the downgrade that's worked. You can find a few posts in this thread that explain the steps.