There is a red exclamation point on the upper right of my messages icon on the iPad. This is supposed to indicate an alert of some kind, but I’ve deleted all messages and reset messaging off, but the alert will not disappear. How do you clear the a

My iPad is also doing the same thing. You could just turn off badges for the message app. That’s what I ended up doing. You won’t have any more numbers telling you how many unread messages you have, but I would think that is more important to have on your iPhone than your iPad. Just a suggestion.

Then the issue is because the message cannot be sent.

What kind of error message you get when you activate iMessage? I suggest to have a look here first: If you get an error when trying to activate iMessage or FaceTime - Apple Support

It probably refers to the fact that the iMessage cannot be send. Turn-on the settings to send the message as SMS or just delete the message.

Of course, if you post a screenshot is better to understand if what I said before is true 🙂

I’m having the same issue on my iPhone 7plus I have the exclamation point as well. My iMessaging won’t activate & I can only send basic messages. And my facetime wont activate. I have serv with AT&T. annoying

It only goes away if u turn off the iMessage activation button. I’ve did everything that has been recommende. Mom has 8 plus her imessaginag & facetime is fine. We have same service provider. Same Wi-Fi connection.

Do you have the same inside over some of the messages?

Do you already rebooted your device?

Then contact the Apple Support here: Official Apple Support

Having a new device is free and you can chat with the operators. You can also set an appointment with the Genius Bar in an AppleStore.

Works just fine on my iPad Air 2