IMessage & FaceTime waiting for activation (no phone number, only email is showing)

I had a new SIM card from work so tried it out in my iPhone, and then returend back my orginal persoanl SIM card. Since then, iMessage and Facetime is stuck waiting for activation, and trying to verify my wrong number (the SIM I removed). email (Apple ID) is working on both, but strangly it was stuch for days trying to verfiy the wrong SIM (phone number) I had already removed, not the SIM inserted in my iPhone. I tried everything:
- Eject and insert SIM card.
- Turn iMassage OFF and ON again
- Turn Facetime OFF and ON again (then kept it OFF till i reslove iMessage)
- Updated my Apple ID account and in APP STORE to have my correct phone number.
- REST all settings
- REST all Content & Settings
- REST Netwrok Settings
Now, after a Factory REST through iTunes, my wrong number had been finally removed. However, my correct number is not showing up at all in iMessage or Facetime, stuck waiting for activation (only email works in both)
Any one out there with a fix? please?

Have you tried all of the following:
If you still can't send or receive iMessages
To send and receive iMessages, your device must have a valid cellular or Wi-Fi data connection.
iOS: Troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks and connections
iOS: Troubleshooting cellular data
Ensure that iMessage is turned on in Settings > Messages.
iMessage registration validates your Apple ID for use with iMessage. If you are unable to activate iMessage, try the following:
Sign in to iMessage on your device using a valid Apple ID. After you validate the email address for use with iMessage, other iMessage users can connect to you using that email address. If you encounter issues registering or using an Apple ID account:
Ensure you have an active Internet connection.
Verify that you are using a valid Apple ID at myinfo.apple.com. You can also create an Apple ID or reset your password from this webpage.
Ensure that your date, time, and time zone are set correctly. If your country has recently made a daylight saving time (DST) change, it may be necessary to manually set the time zone to one that matches your local time.
Check that your email address is verified in Settings > Messages > Receive At.
If Settings > Messages > Receive At shows your email status as "verifying," follow the instructions in the verification email that was sent to complete the process.
Toggle iMessage off and on in Settings > Messages.
iPhone automatically registers your phone number for use with iMessage during activation. If you encounter issues activating or using iMessage with your phone number:
Verify that you are connected to a cellular network.
Toggle iMessage off and on in Settings > Messages.
If you are unable to activate iMessage on a device after remote wiping it, wait at least 24 hours and try again.

Similar Messages

IMessage waiting for activation. Phone number not listed in Send and Receive at?

I'm going to try to be as descriptive as possible, as I'm not too sure what else I can possibly do to resolve this issue.
3 or 4 days ago I requested a number change through my provider. Not knowing that I had to turn off iMessage whilst waiting for the change to occur, I left it on.
Later that day my friends were complaining that I was sending them texts from two different numbers, one being my new number, one being my old number. The thing is, I'm using the exact same SIM card and it's a little unusual to have two numbers for one SIM. I then realised that iMessage is ONLY registering my iTunes e-mail address and OLD phone number as an option to 'Send and Receive at'. I have spoken to Optus (my provider in Aust.) and Apple, I have gone into an Apple store, had the phone replaced, restored newtwork settings, restored phone altogether, turned on/off iMessage and Facetime, checked date and time, made sure my correct number is listed in Settings > Phone, etc etc etc I've done EVERYTHING listed in all forums that I've read from people experiencing this same issue.
I can choose to select my old phone number in iMessage, and can then send messages to others using iMessage from the old number, and if I switch it off, I'm then using SMS to send messages, and it's from my new number again! It's very frustrating not having all features on my phone working correctly.
If I switch iMessages and Facetime on, not using my Apple ID to sign in, it simply says 'waiting for activation' and after a few hours, tells me it was unsucessful and to try again. I'm all out of options now, Optus don't know what to do, Apple don't know what to do and I don't know what else to do! It's been 4 days! Someone please help!?

Just thought I'd let everybody know how it finally got resolved 1 week later!
After trying absolutely everything, and I mean EVERYTHING that Apple support, apple forums etc told me to do, the only thing that worked was turning iMessage off, waiting for at least 24 hours at then turning iMessage back on.
It activated itself within a few minutes, no dramas at all!
Hope this helps!

IMessage Facetime Waiting for Activation...

I am currently out of the country trying to use my iphone 4S, and I am not able to use iMessage or FaceTime with WiFi. After I turn them on in the settings tab, it just says "waiting for activation..." How do I fix this? I currently have a non-ATT sim card installed and I am able to make calls and regular text messages. I have tried to restore my phone and it still did not fix this. Any ideas on how to fix my imessage?

Have you tried all of the following:
If you still can't send or receive iMessages
To send and receive iMessages, your device must have a valid cellular or Wi-Fi data connection.
iOS: Troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks and connections
iOS: Troubleshooting cellular data
Ensure that iMessage is turned on in Settings > Messages.
iMessage registration validates your Apple ID for use with iMessage. If you are unable to activate iMessage, try the following:
Sign in to iMessage on your device using a valid Apple ID. After you validate the email address for use with iMessage, other iMessage users can connect to you using that email address. If you encounter issues registering or using an Apple ID account:
Ensure you have an active Internet connection.
Verify that you are using a valid Apple ID at myinfo.apple.com. You can also create an Apple ID or reset your password from this webpage.
Ensure that your date, time, and time zone are set correctly. If your country has recently made a daylight saving time (DST) change, it may be necessary to manually set the time zone to one that matches your local time.
Check that your email address is verified in Settings > Messages > Receive At.
If Settings > Messages > Receive At shows your email status as "verifying," follow the instructions in the verification email that was sent to complete the process.
Toggle iMessage off and on in Settings > Messages.
iPhone automatically registers your phone number for use with iMessage during activation. If you encounter issues activating or using iMessage with your phone number:
Verify that you are connected to a cellular network.
Toggle iMessage off and on in Settings > Messages.
If you are unable to activate iMessage on a device after remote wiping it, wait at least 24 hours and try again.

Imessage/facetime waiting for activation problem on a deactivated iphone 5

Hello people(:
I was just wondering if anyone out there know how to fix the waiting for activation problem for iPhone 5 on 6.1.4
My iPhone 5 is deactivated so it has no service on it. It has a sim card but the sim card doesn't have service and I'm guessing thats the problem.
But i just wanna make sure that it is or if anyones got a solution.
Thanks(:
Need answers please

Well I did a restore of my iPhone 5 (deactivated) using my last iPhone 6 backup (activated) and iMessage still failed to activate. It's funny because this worked on my old iPhone 4. I don't know what else I did different.
Does anyone know why Apple does this? Why are they against us using iMessage on a deactivated iPhone?

I smashed my screen to sent it to a phone shop to be repaired and he obviously reset it and my imessage said waiting for activation and I entered my password wrong and it won't let me retry and it says the same thing omg please help

I smashed my screen to sent it to a phone shop to be repaired and he obviously reset it and my imessage said waiting for activation and I entered my password wrong and it won't let me retry and it says the same thing omg please help

Troubleshooting FaceTime and iMessage Activation

I am currently studying abroad in Italy and my imessage has been working with wifi up until now. I just wen to PAris for the weekend and when I came back it says that Imessage is waiting for activation. How do I fix this? Thanks!

I am currently studying abroad in Italy and my imessage has been working with wifi up until now. I just wen to PAris for the weekend and when I came back it says that Imessage is waiting for activation. How do I fix this? Thanks!

If iMessage has become deactivated on your iPhone, which, apparently it has, the phone will need to send an SMS to activate it again. Therefore, you'll need a cellular connection.

IMessage stuck waiting for activation...

i just got a new email with iCloud and it's working fine
But the problem is that I can't activate my
iMessage ...
Under iMessage says
Waiting for activation.
There are no restrictions at all on my iPhone
Connected over wifi and 3G network...
Rebooted phone
And still no luck
I even did a full restore on it and no luck...
What shoul I do...

I had exactly this problem yesterday, both on my iPhone 4 (which had been working on iMessage for months) and on my wife's iPhone 3GS. I spent an hour on the phone to Apple support, but they couldn’t fix it. All they could suggest was an appointment at an Apple store. However, I managed to fix it on both iPhones by using Google's DNS server, 8.8.8.8.
Using my own proxy server, I found the servers that the iPhone connects to when activating iMessage. There are several, but two of them are deployed regionally with the same hostname but multiple IP addresses (and consequently multiple servers). I am in the UK and when I do DNS lookups, I get the following results:
init.ess.apple.com
82.96.58.9 from a UK DNS server
63.80.4.41 from Google's US DNS server at 8.8.8.8
static.ess.apple.com
82.96.58.47 from a UK DNS server
80.239.148.162 from Google's US DNS server at 8.8.8.8
The regional differences in DNS resolution are because Apple uses Akamai Technologies to deploy local points of presence, which is intended to reduce latency and intercontinental bandwidth. Therefore your iPhone does a DNS lookup on the hostname and a regional IP address is returned. UK DNS servers return the above 82.96.58.* addresses in Sweden; Google's US DNS server returns the above servers in the US, which I am guessing are Apple's primary iMessage servers. The Swedish iMessage servers seem to be deficient in some way, which is why you sometimes get this problem when activating iMessage outside the US.
After changing the DNS for your wifi connection to 8.8.8.8, you may need to restart your iPhone before trying to switch on iMessage again, as restarting will flush the iPhone's DNS cache. Otherwise your iPhone will retain the previous DNS mapping to regional Apple servers rather than to the more reliable primary Apple servers in the US.

Why does my imessage say waiting for activation?

Why does my imessage say waiting for activation?

I'd reference https://discussions.apple.com/message/22715537#22715537 among the five other questions to the riight of this response and see if they help any.

HT4528 why does my imessage say waiting for activation

My imessage says "waiting for activation". I've tried rebooting multiple times.

iMessage servers are down. Watch this website for more information http://www.apple.com/support/icloud/systemstatus/

How to change phone number in Imessage and "waiting for Activation"

i use my iphone5 - factory unlocked between two countries with two different sim card. When i am in the USA i can use both my both number and email address to send imessage.
I notice when i am in jamaica i can use only my email address to send imessage.
I tried just about everything i see in these forum.
I signed out of my apple ID and started to reactive my imessage. I notice when i am setting up it displayed my local phone number and email address as method person can contact via imessage. however aster clicking ok, i noticed it is still displaying my att phone number. the phone number area is grayed out.
I even update the local number to my apple id.
added the local number also to my contact in the phone.
I tried everything possible
also it s saying "waiting for activation" some time now.

Hello Spum,
It sounds like you are not able to activate your phone number for iMessage usage when you are in Jamaica. I recommend following the steps in the section titled "Troubleshooting telephone-number activation (iPhone only)" in the following article:
iOS: Troubleshooting FaceTime and iMessage activation
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts4268
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Sheila M.

IMessage and Facetime "waiting for activation" on iPhone4s (Brazil)

I've had an iPhone 3GS for 3 years, had iMessage working perfectly.
On march 16th, i bought an iPhone 4S from my supported carrier, TIM. Since then, I cannot activate my phone number neither in iMessage nor in Facetime.
If I log in my Apple ID, both work fine, but under my email address.
I've been searching for answers since then, tried everything - Date/Time adjustments, reset network config, set up as new phone, restore from iTunes backup, restore from iCloud backup, activate/deactivate iCloud account, setting up my phone number under my Apple ID, even DFU mode, but nothing seems to work.
I reached my carrier, who said there are no issues on my phone line, and thus it must be something that should be solved by Apple.
Sometimes, just trying to turn on iMessage or Facetime will give me an instant popup message on the iPhone saying "iMessage Activation - An error occurred during activation. Try again". If I click "OK" and try to activate it, I get "Waiting for activation" under the iMessage on/off button for about 4 to 5 hours before it says again that my iPhone has not been verifyed and I must try again.
This has been going on for a week now, and I sure hope someone can help me solve this thing.
By the way, I'm running iOS 5.1 on 4S, as I was running iOS 5.1 on the 3GS before.

TIM
Como muitas pessoas, assim como eu, também não conseguem ativar o Imessage, resolvi compartilhar a solução a seguir, a qual ainda não tentei.
É da época dos problemas com o Facetime, mas dado que o sistema de ativação é semelhante ao iMessage, vale a pena tentar, visto que é a solução mais coerente que vi até hoje.
O texto a seguir foi Publicado em 22 Dezembro 2010 por Fábio Kohn,
no link a seguir:
http://pt-br.paperblog.com/solucao-definitiva-como-ativar-o-facetime-na-tim-1650 48/
ABRE ASPAS:
Em menos de 3 meses de cliente da TIM, foram 8 protocolos de atendimento direto com eles devido a problemas distintos e 3 chamados junto a ANATEL
incluindo um deles o da ativação do FaceTime, nada adiantou, sempre alegavam que o problema estava na Apple e não na operadora,
Não vou nem descrever o fato de os atendentes da TIM no *144 não saberem nem do que se trata “FaceTime”.
pra terem uma ideia, ao falar que o aparelho era um iPhone, a primeira pergunta: – De qual marca Senhor?
Foi quando fui até uma loja física da TIM, relatei rapidamente meu problema no pré-atendimento e foi quando veio o gerente da loja,
começou a falar comigo e sacou o iPhone 4 dele do bolso dizendo que ele teve exatamente o mesmo problema.
Foi quando ele em poucos minutos me explicou o que eu deveria fazer, vamos então a solução:
Primeiramente como funciona a ativação do FaceTime? Quando você ativa ela, o aparelho envia um SMS internacional para o servidor,
onde contem armazena seu número, e então o servidor lhe envia de volta uma autorização para utilização do serviço,
é ai onde esta o problema da TIM, alguns números da TIM o servidor reconhece como número fixo (caso de números que começam com o número 6),
e em outros ele simplesmente desconfigura a formatação que deveria ser +55 (11) XXXX-XXXX para alguma outra que não consegue identificar o código de área
fazendo com que a autorização NUNCA chegue no seu aparelho.
Existem duas soluções para isso, uma extremamente rápida solicitando a troca de seu número, e outra para quem não quer abrir mão do número
que leva até 05 dias para resolver, ambas garantidas pelo gerente da loja que funcionam e aqui estou eu como prova viva .
Solução 1 – Rápida, solicitação de troca do número.
- Ligue no atendimento da TIM no *144 direto do seu celular.
- No menu, escolha a opção 1 (confirmação de atendimento direto do aparelho) e logo em seguida a opção 3 (atendimento personalizado).
- Ao escolher a opção 3, será transferido para um dos atendentes.
- Confirme seus dados com ele, e de maneira muito simples e direta sem muita explicação faça a seguinte solicitação:
1.Solicite a troca de seu número.
2.Provavelmente ela irá perguntar o motivo: Relate que você precisa utilizar um serviço do qual não aceita números de celular começando com o número X (fale o número do seu).
3.Ela irá confirmar, e te passará algumas opções de número, diga que você tem preferência por números que começam com 7 ou 8.
4.Escolha seu número, ela efetuando a troca e finalizando o atendimento, espere alguns minutos que pode levar até 2 horas, desligue o aparelho, ligue ele de novo, e realize a ativação do FaceTime.
5.Pronto, em até 2 horas terá seu FaceTime ativado.
OBS: Não necessariamente seu número tenha que começar com 6 para ter esse problema, como disse, existem números que dão problema na hora do recebimento da autorização. Como saber se você vai pegar um número que funcione? Não da para saber, a única certeza que você tem, é que o que você esta não funciona! Por isso, faça essa opção por sua conta e risco!
Solução 2 – Um pouco mais demorada, mantendo seu número.
- Ligue no atendimento da TIM no *144 direto do seu celular.
- No menu, escolha a opção 1 (confirmação de atendimento direto do aparelho) e logo em seguida a opção 3 (atendimento personalizado).
- Ao escolher a opção 3, será transferido para um dos atendentes.
- Confirme seus dados com ele, e de maneira muito simples solicite falar no atendimento especial de iPhone. Ele irá te transferir:
1.No atendimento de iPhone, relate rapidamente seu problema de ativação do FaceTime.
2.Solicite a abertura de um protocolo para ativação do FaceTime em sua linha, pois devido a sua linha pertencer as que estão com problema de ativação, você não consegue ativar.
3.Diga para ele colocar na abertura do chamado exatamente isso: “Solicitação de ativação de FaceTime para o número “tal” que apresenta falha na ativação do serviço devido a ser reconhecido como número FIXO impossibilitando o recebimento de SMS internacional requisitado para a ativação. Solicitamos a liberação e confirmação desde terminal como número móvel”.
4.Finalizando o chamado, aguarde até 05 dias úteis, sempre que for tentar realizar a ativação dentro dos 05 dias desligue o aparelho, ligue novamente e tente ativar. Nesse intervalo de 05 dias pode acontecer de ativar nos primeiros 15 minutos ou até completar o prazo.
OBS: Essa opção foi a realizada pelo gerente da loja TIM relatada na história acima, dica dele inclusive de o que colocar no chamado para a solução
relatada no passo 3.
Sempre anote o número dos respectivos protocolos, eles são a prova de que você fez a solicitação, caso em até 05 dia ainda assim não conseguir realizar a ativação recomendo a solução 01.
Essa dica é valida e testada com a operadora TIM com 100% de solução em ambas as dicas, porém caso alguém consiga com o mesmo método em outra operadora deixe a confirmação ai também!

Imessaging and facetime "waiting for activation"... all imessages come to ipad! grrrrrrrr!

i just upgraded both ipad and iphone 4s to ios 6. now only my ipad gets imessaging! iphone imessaging says "waiting authentication". how does one fix this? i thought Apple was supposed to more problem free!

There is nothing to do. That is a status message that appears because you do not have a cellular network data connection. Since you only have Wi-Fi the iMessages will not be associated with your phone number. There is more information on "Waiting for Activation" at http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4268
Note the following quotation from that link:
You can still activate iMessage and FaceTime with your Apple ID when these status messages appear. You can see that you've activated FaceTime and iMessage with your Apple ID by tapping:
Settings > FaceTime > You can be reached by FaceTime at:
Settings > Messages > Send & Receive > You can be reached by iMessage at:

IMessage is waiting for activation. Please help!

Please help me!
I keep getting "waiting for activation" on my iMessage. I can only send/receive iMessage from my email address, NOT my phone number.
Under Receive at, my phone number isn't listed at all and I have no way of adding it.
I've checked under setting > phone > my number. And the phone # is listed correctly. (I live in Indonesia so it's +62xxxxx).
And I'm not sure if this is connected or not, but under setting > phone > show my caller ID, the ON button is greyed out.
A little history & weird problems I encountered:
My iPhone 4S was stolen about a month ago (I'm still ****** about it).I did a remote wipe on it and I figured the person who stole is has thrown away the SIM card because the number isn't active anymore.
So I just bought a brand new iPhone 4S and a new number again. I synced it to iTunes and upgraded it to iOS 5.1 then I did a restore from my old back up. Everything was fine except for the iMessage. It shows "waiting for actvation". When I tap under Receive At, the email address is listed as well as my OLD phone number (the one that was stolen). It was greyed out and the status was "verying" which later turned to "error". I have no way of editing or removing that old number. When I connect my iPhone to iTunes, the phone # was shown as n/a on iTunes, but after 30 mins or so, it will appear.
So I did a restore again and this time set is as a new iPhone. The old phone number is now gone, but only my email address is listed. I can't input my phone number there.
I have done all kind of fixing suggestions that I can find online, but nothing works so far.
- Date & time set as automatic (I don't know why this matter, but mine was already set as automatic from the begining)
- Reset network setting
- Changing the DNS to 8.8.8.8.
- Restore to factory setting (from back up & as new iPhone)
- Turning on/off iMessage & facetime
- Sign out/in of apple ID
- Change location from apple ID
- Hard reset/reboot
And many others.
Is this an error on my iPhone or maybe the iOS or is it the carrier?
Any input is greatly appreciated!

Hi guys,
I keep getting "waiting for activation" on my iMessage. I can only send/receive iMessage from my email address, NOT my phone number.
I have done all kind of fixing suggestions that I can find online, but nothing works so far.
- Date & time set as automatic (I don't know why this matter, but mine was already set as automatic from the begining)
- Reset network setting
- Changing the DNS to 8.8.8.8.
- Restore to factory setting (from back up & as new iPhone)
- Turning on/off iMessage & facetime
- Sign out/in of apple ID
- Change location from apple ID
- Hard reset/reboot
And many others.
...me too. I'm in Portugal having the same issue!! Hopefuly Apple will give us a solution, shortly...

My iMessaging says "waiting for activation..." what does that mean?, My iMessaging says "waiting for activation..." what does that mean?

I don't know what this means when it says that. How do I get my messaging back?

Hello Hiineedhelp,
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities!
It sounds like the Messages app is stuck in actiavtion. Take a look at these steps from this article:
iOS: Troubleshooting FaceTime and iMessage activation
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts4268
Troubleshooting Apple ID activation
After each step, toggle iMessage and FaceTime off and then on again in Settings > Messages and Settings > FaceTime.
Update to the latest version of iOS.
Ensure that you have an active Internet connection. You can complete activation using Wi-Fi or a cellular data connection. Check your Wi-Fi network using standard Wi-Fi network troubleshooting.
If you receive an error when signing in to your Apple ID, visit myinfo.apple.com, sign in to your account, and ensure that the primary email address has been verified.
Ensure that FaceTime has not been restricted: Settings > General > Restrictions > FaceTime.
In Settings > General > Date & Time, ensure that Set Automatically is on. If Set Automatically is on, but the incorrect time zone is displayed, turn Set Automatically off and then choose the correct time zone, date, and time. Then turn Set Automatically on again.
Enable iMessage and FaceTime while connected to another Wi-Fi network in a different location.
When enabling FaceTime or iMessage on an iPhone, you may see "Waiting for Activation". This message refers to the activation of your telephone number only. You can use FaceTime and iMessage with your Apple ID even if your phone number has not completed activation.You can see that you've activated FaceTime and iMessage with your Apple ID here:
Settings > FaceTime > You can be reached by FaceTime at:
Settings > Messages > Send & Receive > You can be reached by iMessage at:
If that does not get Messages going again, I would try these steps from toward the bottom:
To sign out of your Apple ID
Go to Settings > FaceTime, tap your Apple ID, and select Sign Out.
Go to Settings > Messages > Send & Receive, tap your Apple ID, and select Sign Out.
Cheers,
Sterling

TS4268 imessage says waiting for activation

When i try to use turn on facetime or imessage it gives me "Waiting for activation". Please Help!!!

Try turning them both off, do a reset of the phone holding the sleep/wake and home buttons together until you see the Apple logo and then release. After the phone restarts, try to activate again. The support document that you linked to here is what I would recommend. http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4268

IMessage & FaceTime waiting for activation (no phone number, only email is showing)

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