iMessage Not Activating after Returning from USA

TwentyTwoCarats on 31/01/2023 - 13:04

I was in the states for the last month where I used a T-Mobile eSIM and also kept my Aussie Woolworths physical SIM active. I also used iMessage for the american eSIM number. Lifesaver because I needed to receive certain verification texts on my Aussie number.

Anyway now that I'm home, I turned off and deleted the T-Mobile eSIM but I'm having trouble activating iMessage for the Aussie number now. Any suggestions? I've followed all the steps on the Apple Support page such as toggling Airplane mode, turning iMessage/FaceTime off and on, rebooting phone, and I even reset the Network Settings. I also logged out and back into iCloud. Nothing is working. I'm currently on iOS 16.1.1 and there's a new iOS 16.3 available but I'm stuck on the "Update Requesting…" screen, this thing usually takes some time.

Any suggestions? I live chatted to both Apple and Woolworths and they both just told me to update iOS and see what happens.

Have any of you experienced this and if so what did you do?

Any help is appreciated, thank you.

Mobile Apple Mobile Phone

Comments

  • Muzeeb on 31/01/2023 - 13:08
    +3

    Update iOS and see what happens.

    • resubaehtgnolhcs on 31/01/2023 - 13:49

      Thanks, that clears it up

    • TwentyTwoCarats on 31/01/2023 - 14:14
      +2

      Done, didn't work

      • Muzeeb on 31/01/2023 - 14:16
        +2

        Ok. Make sure you update apple and Woolies also.

    • HeWhoKnows on 01/02/2023 - 22:49

      This happens sometimes after changing the SIM card
      Especially if it was a different number.

      Try:
      1. turning imessage off, reboot phone, then turn it on again.
      2. Removing and re-inserting SIM
      3. Check the addresses for imessage - make sure your phone number is ticked
      4. If nothing else works back up phone on iTunes and do a factory reset. This will force the phone to recognise the SIM

  • Lord Fart Bucket on 31/01/2023 - 13:16
    +1

    I know you've done network reset, airplane mode… but have you actually turned it off an on again?

    • TwentyTwoCarats on 31/01/2023 - 14:14
      +1

      Yes I mentioned that I rebooted my phone

  • Cheaplikethebird on 31/01/2023 - 13:58

    Have you tried logging your Apple ID out and back in? May re-establish the connection to your number.

    • TwentyTwoCarats on 31/01/2023 - 14:14
      +1

      Yes, I mentioned I logged in and out of iCloud, same thing. Nothing's working! :( Thanks though

      • Cheaplikethebird on 31/01/2023 - 14:47
        +5

        No worries. As someone who works in support, when you send this through to Apple put what you've done in dot points, helps a lot.

  • kerfuffle on 31/01/2023 - 14:24
    +3

    Time to go to the Genius Bar

    • Quantumcat on 31/01/2023 - 14:28
      +4

      Don't need to do that, there's apple support built into the phone where you can chat with someone and they'll take you through what you need to do

      • kerfuffle on 31/01/2023 - 14:29
        +3

        Well there you go. Time to contact Apple support

  • Yoo on 31/01/2023 - 15:12
    +1

    When did you come back? Same thing happened to me last year coming back from the US. Nothing worked. After waiting 24 hours, I restarted my phone and it worked.

    • TwentyTwoCarats on 31/01/2023 - 15:29
      +1

      I see, I guess I gotta wait another hour or so lol

  • AustriaBargain on 31/01/2023 - 17:39

    Did you check that you actually put the number in as your iMessage handle? Your iMessage handle doesn't have to be the number in you sim, it can also be an email address and you can have multiple handles at the same time.

    • TwentyTwoCarats on 31/01/2023 - 19:28

      what do you mean by this in terms of settings?

      • AustriaBargain on 31/01/2023 - 19:30

        Go to settings, search for iMessage, go to Messages, then under iMessage toggle click send & receive, and your iMessage handles will be listed there. Do you see your phone number in that list?

        • TwentyTwoCarats on 31/01/2023 - 19:31

          Yeah done this numerous times, the number is in there and it cannot be selected - always results in activation error

          • AustriaBargain on 31/01/2023 - 20:16

            @TwentyTwoCarats: Do you see the US number in there still?

            • TwentyTwoCarats on 31/01/2023 - 20:18

              @AustriaBargain: No the US number isn't there, and the US eSIM is totally deleted from my phone. However I did see a trace of it when I went to Settings > General > About… there was an IMEI2 in addition to IMEI. Maybe there's a trace of the american number and that's screwing with iMessage activation. FFS

              • AustriaBargain on 31/01/2023 - 20:23
                -1

                @TwentyTwoCarats: Have you tried taking the sim out and putting it back in while the phone is still on?

              • ozwog05 on 01/02/2023 - 11:02

                @TwentyTwoCarats: I wonder if you were to activate a new Aus eSIM to slot #2 (eg. Optus Flex 5G $2/day) and overwrite any remnants of the US eSIM, whether that would fix it.

                • TwentyTwoCarats on 01/02/2023 - 14:09

                  @ozwog05: Not a bad idea tbh, didnt know the $2/day prepaid thing would be available on eSIM

  • Muzeeb on 31/01/2023 - 17:48

    Are you receiving normal mobile data?

  • TEER3X on 31/01/2023 - 20:25

    Not sure if this is of use, I can't make any sense of it, but also don't to run into the same problems myself when I travel there

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250271552

    Also, please let us know what eventually works, I think the reply you got on Whirlpool will likely be it.

  • larryP11 on 01/02/2023 - 08:48

    Try Resetting Network Settings

    Settings > General > Transfer Reset iPhone > Reset > Network Settings

    • TEER3X on 01/02/2023 - 09:08
      +1

      In the OP:

      and I even reset the Network Settings.

  • Webber000 on 01/02/2023 - 19:34

    Turn off iMessage and Facetime in their apps. Turn phone off. Remove sim. Turn phone on wait a few minutes then turn phone off. Insert sim, turn phone on, wait a few minutes. Now connect to iTunes and Sync. Reboot phone. Connect to iTunes again and Sync again (sometimes you need to do this several times so you may need to repeat again later if below fails). Now turn iMessage and Facetime back on and see if it has worked (if not connect to Itunes and Sync again both with and without the apps turned on/off).
    From what I understand, the issue is that the OS is just set to not check the sim often so that startup is quicker, so iPhones just don't notice when you put a new sim in or details on an existing sim change. Apparently Syncing with Itunes and rebooting while the apps are off is more likely to trigger when it checks the sim.

  • CereaL on 27/02/2023 - 23:54

    @TwentyTwoCarats
    I'm curious.. did you get it working?

    • TwentyTwoCarats on 28/02/2023 - 08:52
      +2

      Automatically started working after over 2 whole days

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