My ipad keeps saying activation required

thanks. Some people are more conveniently located to an Apple store than others. But, I appreciate your comment. It gives me some hope on my next trip to the big city, I can find my way to the Apple store.

Glad to hear your iPad is fixed. My nearest Apple store‘s staff wouldn’t even look at it because I don’t have the original receipt. The chain where I bought it went bankrupt several years ago so I cannot get a replacement receipt. That’s why I was posting here, looking for a solution that didn’t need the Apple Store’s input.

Given that there are so many of us with the same problem, you’d think Apple would agree to help us all.

My iPad 2 started with this issue yesterday. I was on Hulu when all of a sudden the iPad completely shut down and when I restarted it it gave me the activation message. After multiple attempts to activate it like instructed, I took out the old SIM card and connected to my iTunes, within minutes I was able to reactivate, sync and restore my settings.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I was on vacation and attempted to use my ipad and received this error. My ipad didnt function. I could use my iphone only.

The hotels was naturally unsecured. Upon returning home i decided to try it again. It immediately acted normally and has worked ever since.

My 7 year old ipad 2 had same activation issue being discussed above. Took out old ATT sim card which hasn’t been activated since 2014 and rebooted, but it wanted me to put the card back in so I did but no joy. Plugged into itunes on laptop and then it allowed me to go through the activation process and is now back to normal.

This issue has mostly affected iPad 2 models with SIM cards for Cellular data service.

If you have a cellular iPad 2 model, try removing the SIM card from the SIM card tray, located on one of the long sides of the iPad ( you may need something small or pointy or the original SIM card tray tool that came with your Cellular service iPad 2 to open the tray ), remove the SIM card, try either a simple restart of your iPad 2 AND/OR try a hard reset of your iPad by holding down both the Home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously until your iPad goes to black and restarts with Apple logo, then release the buttons.

Then, try re-activating your iPad 2 without the SIM card in the tray.

If successful, return the SIM card back into the tray.

If no joy,

Leave the SIM card installed, first, and try to re-activate your iPad 2 with it connected to a computer running iTunes.

If STILL no joy,

Try taking out the SIM card and try the re-activation with your iPad 2 connected to the computer and iTunes, once again.

Possible solution WITHOUT a SIM card (WiFi ONLY iPad ).

Connect your iPad to a computer running the latest iTunes.

Force your (still plugged-in) iPad to restart by pressing and holding the power (Sleep/Wake) and Home buttons at the same time. Keep holding them down until you see the Recovery mode screen. You probably need to keep holding these down for longer than you think: the screen will go black then after a few seconds, and the Apple logo will appear, but you need to keep holding the buttons for another 10 seconds or so before the iPad goes into Recovery mode.

You'll be given the option to restore or update in iTunes. Select Update.

iTunes will now try and attempt to reinstall iOS 9.3.5.

If the update process takes more than 15 minutes, your iPad will exit recovery mode, and you'll need to repeat the above step.

Some other users here reported seeing the error message again during this process, but says you should ignore it and wait.

After the update is finished, leave your iPad connected to the computer. You'll now need to complete the activation setup process for your iPad using iTunes.

IF still no joy at this point, leave your iPad connected and force another restart of your iPad as I described earlier in this reply post.

This time your iPad should ask if you want to restore it.

Once the restore is finished, you will be asked to select whether you want to activate the iPad as a "new" device or if you want to restore it from your last backup. Selecting the new iPad option will format your iPad so it is like new and restoring it will retrieve your data again.

Good Luck to You!

I just got hit with this bug tonight. 7yo iPad2, iOS 9.3.5, non-cellular, 3.1GB free. Sat it down for 3 mins for a quick break, came back to find the activation screen.

Read this post, connected to my computer & iTunes via USB. Was able to activate. Was warned about not using iCloud updates. (I don't use )

Went thru a couple logins, password, trust the computer, dialogs and all is well. Good Luck! My iPad looks fine so far. Whew!!!

I have an old Ipad 2 and I have had this problem for the last couple of days. Did you find out how to get round it ?

Conspiracy theories help no one.

I have an iPad 2 and have not been subjected to these activation issues and I am still regularly updating apps on my iPad 2.

Glad I could help!

I hope you haven't tossed it yet because I just solved the issue on my iPad 2. Does yours have a SIM card inserted? Because taking out my old one allowed it to activate prop

GREAT DISCOVERY!!!!!

AWESOME WORK finding the culprit of this issue!

There are a few other postings about this issue.

You need to post your solution into those posts, as well!

NICE JOB!

😀

This problem started for me this afternoon, I've removed the old sim card, done a hard reset and still no joy.

My Ipad 2 came up with the same message last night. Has anyone had a reply from Apple?

Did you bother reading the posts above yours?

If you have an IPad 2 with cellular, did you try removing the older sim card to alleviate the activation required message?