iMessage trying to activate wrong number

**ght** · 11-10-2012, 10:53 PM

Hoping someone here can help. I've spent a whole day trying to figure this out with no success.

I got a new VZW iPhone 5. I gave my 4S to my wife. Everything went just fine with the 5, but the 4S (now assigned to my wife's number) keeps trying to activate iMessage and FaceTime using my number. I've reset network settings, rebooted the phone, tried turning iMessage and FaceTime on/off. Just about every trick anyone suggested on the Internet. All without success.

Any ideas?

**JustMe'D** · 11-10-2012, 11:08 PM

Does your wife have her own Apple ID that she uses with the 4S and for FaceTime and iMessage usage? If she has logged in with her own credentials, then FaceTime and iMessage should not be trying to use your information. I'm not sure if this will help, but it can't hurt to try. Go to and update your mobile phone number. Afterwards, have your wife reboot her 4S.

**ght** · 11-10-2012, 11:37 PM

Thanks for responding. Yes, she has her own Apple ID. She can sign in with that and it will work using her email address, but the phone number appears to be stuck on my number, and just shows "waiting for activation". I did update the Apple ID site with her mobile number, but it doesn't seem to have helped.

**Peligro911** · 11-10-2012, 11:56 PM

What carrier do you have ?

Beamed from my iPad 2 routed and bouncing across the globe on multiple servers and brought to you using Tapatalk !

**Peligro911** · 11-10-2012, 11:58 PM

I would restore the phone either way

Beamed from my iPad 2 routed and bouncing across the globe on multiple servers and brought to you using Tapatalk !

**bamf-hacker** · 11-11-2012, 12:02 AM

When you go to the phone app does it show your number or hers?

**ght** · 11-11-2012, 09:12 AM

Phone app shows her number. Only iMessage and FaceTime seem to be stuck on my number.

I'm on Verizon. It's jailbroken, so a restore would wipe that and force her onto iOS 6. Prefer to avoid that, and from what others have said on the Internet, a restore doesn't seem to fix this issue. I find that hard to believe, but I guess if Apple servers refuse to disassociate this hardware from my number, that could be the case.

**JustMe'D** · 11-11-2012, 09:29 AM

I would again try logging out of iMessage and FaceTime, and then powering off the device. Wait about 30 seconds, power back on and then when after your service provider's logo appear, log into iMessage & FaceTime and see if it corrects itself.

**ght** · 11-11-2012, 10:46 AM

I tried that. I even went so far as to reactivate my phone number on the device and reactivate iMessage and FaceTime (which worked), log back out and deactivate both, then put her number back on the device, reset network settings, then tried to activate iMessage and FaceTime, but it still tries to use my number.

**Peligro911** · 11-11-2012, 11:21 AM

Long shot but
Do *228 option 1

**ght** · 11-11-2012, 12:29 PM

Did that. At least twice. Maybe I'll just give it 24 hours and see if it somehow fixes itself.

**JustMe'D** · 11-11-2012, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by ght

Did that. At least twice. Maybe I'll just give it 24 hours and see if it somehow fixes itself.

Do you have a Mac computer with Mountain Lion installed AND has iMessage & FaceTime configured using the phone number that you're trying rid from your 4S? If so, logout of the aforementioned features on your Mac, reboot it and then log back in and make sure your new number is listed along with your current Apple ID. Hopefully, that will somehow cake way for your wife's number to be configured for FaceTime & iMessage use on the 4S. It's a long shot, but hey, everything else has been tried.....

**Peligro911** · 11-11-2012, 01:19 PM

Only thing else I can think of is a restore

If your jb you can save your blobs and make the ipsw to restore to same ipsw

**ght** · 11-11-2012, 01:25 PM

Nope. PC. These two phones are the only Apple devices our household has ever owned.

**ght** · 11-11-2012, 01:28 PM

I have blobs saved in Cydia and Tinyumbrella, but not sure what tool I'd use to restore as new to 5.1.1.

**Peligro911** · 11-11-2012, 01:31 PM

Originally Posted by ght

I have blobs saved in Cydia and Tinyumbrella, but not sure what tool I'd use to restore as new to 5.1.1.

Redsnow you download 5.1,1 ipsw and stitch the blobs and do a shift restore in iTunes after starting the server in tiny umbrella

**ght** · 11-11-2012, 06:10 PM

Well, I managed to get the device registered in iTunes to her Apple ID. (It was still registered to mine.) Thought I was on to something, but the issue persists.