What can be done to use iMessage when it is stuck on "Waiting for Activation"

I bought an iPhone 3GS and tried to activate iMessage on it, but it won't work. I tried everything to activate it, but it still says "waiting for activation". What should I do?

Solution 1:

A few of the things that are under your control are as follows:

• Undo the iMessage settings, power off the device and try again in 5 minutes.
• Check that iCloud isn't having system-wide problems
• Same as step one, but wait 20 to 200 minutes. (sometimes the problem is in the network or the activation servers or the SMS network to tie your phone to the Apple system with the one time activation message and waiting is easier than working with all of the above parties)
• Rather than wait - work through the steps to Troubleshoot iMessage and FaceTime Activation
• Contact Apple for support

It's hard to guess what exactly is wrong, but you also can edit your question to list what steps you have done to troubleshoot this and perhaps someone can guess or point out a missed step.

Solution 2:

If no other messages appear (e.g. incorrect username or password for your iCloud account), that typically indicates that there's a problem contacting or getting authorization from Apple's iMessage servers. I've had that happen periodically when setting up or resetting iMessage on an iOS device.

Unfortunately, as it's a problem on Apple's end, there's not much to be done other than wait and try again periodically by turning iMessage off, then on again. At times when I've run into it, it's typically resolved itself within 5 to 30 minutes, sometimes even less.

If you still can't get it working within a few hours, then amend your question with that information and/or contact Apple.