iOS 7: iMessage and FaceTime Problems and their solutions

iMessage and FaceTime are wonderful that are the proofs of Apple’s innovation and creativeness in the smartphone world. They are awesome, but they can as well freak you out, especially when you update your iPhone or restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to updated version of iOS- just like what millions of people did with the release of iOS 7. And for some users, these services stopped working.

Many users complained in the Apple forum that after updating their devices to iOS 7, they immediately found iMessage and FaceTime were not working. Those apps hung on to authentication and didn’t progress at all. Some people who use different email/passwords to log into their iMessage/iCloud and iTunes are being affected the most.

If you’re looking for its solution because they won’t activate or simply won’t work, here are some things users can try to get (at least) a better result:

(Make sure that you have the latest version of iTunes installed into your computer. )

1. Back the phone up using iTunes. Users need a computer-based backup, but not iCloud.
2. Now, unplug your phone from your computer.
3. Users need to reset their phone to its factory settings. Go to General in Settings for Reset. Select “Erase all content and settings”.
4. At the time the phone restarts, select “Set up as New Phone”.
5. Connect your phone with a Wi-Fi Network. The set-up preamble will ask the user for his Apple ID, etc. Without entering them, just click “skip” and go to the home screen.
6. From the home screen, log serial wise into iMessage, FaceTime, and iCloud (if user is using it) and iTunes.
7. Go back to iTunes and make sure iTunes has “Prevent iPhone from automatically syncing when connected” checked in the Preferences under Devices.
8. Simply connect your iPhone to iTunes and then restore from the backup. Don’t do a complete restore for now. You got backup, so don’t worry, you can do that anytime.
9. The iPhone will now go through the restore from the backup process.

Some of the users’ iPhones also asked for their iMessage and FaceTime logins after it woke from the back up process, but before the whole restore process was completed. After entering those, it continued to install apps users have installed previously on their iPhone.

More: FaceTime / iMessage waiting for activation, how to fix

Now, your iPhone is ready again to let you use your favorite iMessage and FaceTime services. iOS 7 is a new OS, and no new OS is free from small bugs like these. In time, Apple will solve these problems to give their customers a better experience.

Hope these information helped you. Don’t brick your phone! 🙂

More: iOS6: Messages (iMessage) not working, How to fix

SK( Managing Editor )

Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA.

Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.

In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.