iphone 6s ios 9.0.2 stuck at activation

All of them understand the issue, you are the one that doesn't. Whenever you restore an iPhone (which is what you were doing, not reset) it loads the latest version of iOS that will run on that device. Once you put it in a position of restoring it then iOS 9 was removed at which point there is no going back as there are no signed versions of iOS 9 available for your iPhone. It has always been this way and isn't going to change.

Writing here will accomplish nothing as Apple execs/engineers don't participate here. You can directly tell Apple of your feelings about this by going here: Feedback - iPhone - Apple

Hello,

I read you didn't want to lose that version of iOS, and that's okay. But there's no actual benefit staying at an older version of iOS, it's a matter of time for it to become obsolete for newly developed Apps. In WWDC 2018 Apple announced iOS 12 with performance increase, especially for the "older" iPhones. iOS 12 is basically a refined version of the current iOS 11.4

More on Activation issues:

If you can't activate your iPhone - Apple Support

You could try Force Restarting your iPhone by:

Hold the Power and HomeButton pressed untill the device shuts out, and you see the initial Apple Startup logo.

If you have a PC or Mac available, please follow the steps:

1. Install the latest update of iTunes
2. Turn off your iPhone
3. Hold the Home-Button and while holding, plug in the Lightning Cable
4. iTunes will trigger, if that didn't happen. Open iTunes and repeat step 2-3. (This will trigger Recovery Mode)
5. Restore your iPhone, and update to the latest firmware (looks for it automatically, please wait for it to finish downloading)
6. Follow the steps.

Try activating it this way, if that didn't work bump this post. And let's try to figure out your inconvinience.

Kind regards,

K

This is a known issue on all 6s and 6s plus. It probably applies to 5 5s and 6 as well. I’ve had about 25 new iPhones that have this issue that were on iOS 9 to 9.3 it seems 9.3.1 and up don’t show the activation error. Maybe there was a dangerous vulnerability, so Apple deprecated those versions. We will never know.

Apple is no longer signing iOS 9 except for those devices for which it is the terminal version. This is the way Apple has always done things. When you restore a device, you can only restore it to the most current version of iOS that it supports.

If there is something wrong with your device that requires you restore it, you will have to restore it to the current version.

There is nothing wrong with the device, it just doesn’t work 🤔.

Was it working before you messed with it? (y)/(n)

Did you try to fix it? (y)/(n)

Did this make the problem worse? (y)/() Oh.... there’s only one answer box to pick

Apple’s policy of unsigning and withdrawing obsolete software is well known, and there is nothing anyone can do to change it. You have freely made your decision not to update to iOS 11. You know the consequences, and you have the right to make whatever decision you wish. Your decision has tied our hands, we have offered advice which you rejected so there is nothing more anyone can do to help you, your iPhone 6s will never work again. Quite simply, you did something which leaves you with only two options. Load iOS 11, or put the phone in a drawer and buy a replacement.

Hi

Turn iPhone off Make sure your pc is running the latest iTunes 12.7.4

Connect lead to USB on your pc Press just the power button down on iPhone don't let go Connect lead to iPhone keep power button pressed down until pc sees iPhone Then wait for restore you may need to do this more than once Before it works.

Cheers

Brian 🇬-1F1E7;

apple has blocked iOS 9 activation on all 6s/6s+ models it seems. I doubt itll be fixed anytime soon, & you dont really have much choice

Me too. Hope Apple do the right thing.let our iPhone active with iOS 9.0.x