iphone is not activated contact your carrier

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Level 1

33 points

iphone is not activated contact your carrier

Hello. Hoping someone can help as both Apple and Verizon are not much use. My old iPhone I gave to my young daughter to use as a wifi only device. However, it kept getting the error message iPhone is not Activated Contact your carrier at 1 (800) 922-0204 from another phone if this problem continues to occur.
Somehow, I managed to get this to only happen very infrequently but I just updated the software to 9.3.4 while I was traveling and not while it was connected to the iMac and now it pops this message up every few minutes. I can't stop it by turning on airplane mode or by turning off cellular. It is a verizon sim that was never activated.

iPhone 5s, iOS 9.3.4, null

Posted on Aug 20, 2016 10:18 PM

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Answer 1

sberman

Level 10

272,640 points

Aug 20, 2016 10:34 PM in response to goilala

Activate the iPhone. Doing so requires a SIM. Then after activation you can use it as you wish.

If you can't activate your iPhone - Apple Support

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Answer 2

goilala Author

Level 1

33 points

Aug 20, 2016 10:43 PM in response to sberman

It has been activated for 10 months. Not sure how to "reactivate" it. If I shut it down and restart it now, it says "Waiting for activation. This may take some time". This is before I enter my passcode. The SIM is not an activated SIM. This only started getting really annoying after I did the most recent update away from the home iMac. It has no cellular activation.

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Answer 3

sberman

Level 10

272,640 points

Aug 20, 2016 10:51 PM in response to goilala

You say:

goilala wrote:

It has been activated for 10 months.

Then you say:

goilala wrote:

It has no cellular activation.

I don't get it. It's either activated or it is not.

Anyway, regardless, perhaps you would consider Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings and then set it up (and activate it) from scratch.

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Answer 4

goilala Author

Level 1

33 points

Aug 20, 2016 11:00 PM in response to sberman

Well it has been operational for 10 months. It first complained all the time about SIM activation so I got a new one from Verizon that is not associated with any Verizon account. I did not activate the SIM but I set the phone up for her as a wifi only phone. Eventually I somehow had it so that it rarely popped up a carrier activation message but after updating the software a few days ago while we were traveling, it pops up non-stop every 5-10 minutes. Now nothing I do will stop it. I'd rather not reset it up from scratch because it will no doubt have the same SIM activation issue.

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Answer 5

goilala Author

Level 1

33 points

Aug 21, 2016 2:25 PM in response to goilala

Ok. I left it connected to iTunes via cable overnight and eventually the messages have stopped so it must have just needed a lot more time to activate while connected to itunes.

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