Comments on: How to Make iMessage and Facetime Work When You Switch SIM Cards

By: Wes

Wes

My problem with iMessage while using a foreign SIM card abroad is that some iMessages from my contacts are linked to my US number which once I take out my US SIM card is no longer able to be registered to my Apple ID. Apple doesn’t seem to let two phone numbers be registered. So people in the US who send me an iMessage if they are linking it to my US phone #. If they link it to my e-mail address I can get it since Apple lets you have multiple e-mail addresses linked to your Apple ID.

By: Tass

Tass

In reply to David Cretney.

This is great. Thank you.

However by doing this, were you able to still send and receive iMessages to your Canadian number, on the sim only card, as opposed to when people message your appleID?

When I first switched cards it said I could use my old number for 30 days. However that old number’s disappeared. So people imessaging the number end up sending green messages. While only those imessaging my appleID are coming through.

Keen to hear your thoughts!

By: Shan

Shan

Thanks for posting this. It was a simple fix for my husbands phone when he switched from Verizon to AT&T!

By: Bernie

Bernie

Thanks so much!! I had a new SIM card sent to me because I changed my phone plan and my iPhone picked up the new phone number on FaceTime and iMessages. Relatives didn’t pick up my FT calls because it came from a random number. I had googled for solutions and tried several suggestions. Your simple suggestion to take out the SIM card and put it back did the trick. The iPhone reverted to my original number.

By: Nick

Nick

Great advice – worked a charm – thank you

By: David Cretney

David Cretney

I wanted to add my experience angst and resolution on this matter for others benefit. Date is March 2022 and we are Canadian visiting USA and I was setting up a Keepgo data only sim in an unlocked iPhone 8.

iMessage and FaceTime would not activate despite running the routines mentioned in this blog and comments.

So, I reinserted the original SIM card and opened iMessage settings and removed the telephone # from the send receive addresses leaving only appleID email addresses.

Then I turned off iMessage and face time, rebooted the phone while on wifi and then removed the Canadian SIM card and inserted the data only SIM card

This fixed the problem and we were up and running with iMessage and FaceTime on data only sim.

I think by default apple was trying to verify the primary appleID credential by silent SMS since it was a tel#. Once I reverted and removed that it was then not necessary when I reinserted the data only sim.

Hope this helps someone.

By: Lisa

Lisa

Thank you so much for this! Finally worked when I reset the network settings hurrah.

By: Zack

Zack

I had some trouble with the error “there was an error during activation” after porting my number from one telco to another. The way i got it to work was to go to Settings > Messages > Send and receive, then remove the Sim card, give it a wipe and reinsert it. I did this twice before the number started to activate. Also refrain from wiping the phone clean as this did not work.

By: Dave Dean

Dave Dean

In reply to Jan.

I’d need more information to be able to try to answer this – which country are you in now, are you using/have you used a different SIM card while you’re away, what problem(s) are you having, and what have you tried so far to fix it? Let me know and I’ll see if I can help.

By: Jan

Jan

I have TFW, which uses the Verizon network but does not provide for any out of country service. I can get calls and messages through WiFi calling, but it seems the Apple SMS for activation doesn’t come through. Will I be cut off from iMessage until I reenter the country in a month?