iMessage stop working after update to IOS 16.5.1 on iPhone

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Installed update to 16.5.1 on 6/28 and text messages stopped working. After much searching found if I turned off iMessage then messaging worked but in standard txt non encrypted mode.  On my other phone still on 16.5 iMessage works fine.

I wanted to try falling back to 16.5 but apparently Apple makes that impossible. Research said to get ipsw file from https://ipsw.me but the only allowable one there was 15.7.7. Why is 16.5 not available?

Now it I try to click on iMessage I get a small note under it saying, “Waiting for activation” and it never activates. So even though iMessage button is on a text works but still in non iMessage standard not encrypted mode.

Phones are so critical these days why can’t Apple have a simple option on the phone itself or through iTunes to fall back to a previous IOS? This is enough to make me want to go back to Galaxy.

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AFAIK, iMessage is closely linked to your Apple ID (for access to iMessage servers) whilst fallback is SMS (with less stringent checks on your identity).

1. Have you tried toggling Send as SMS (Settings > Messages) to OFF > restart iPhone > toggle back ON again? (In case this prompts an automatic configuration check of an existing signed-in Apple ID account.)

2. Have you tried signing out/signing in again to your Apple ID on your iPhone? (Settings > account (top entry) > Sign Out (at very bottom of the list)?

3. Have you tried a Restore from within iTunes? (I appreciate you can’t revert to iOS 16.5 but a restore should replace your iPhone’s current configuration with the last-saved configuration settings.)

4. Failing that, carry out a backup then do a reset from within iTunes.

Note: If you don’t use iTunes, just iCloud OTA updating, then a reset then restore is going to take longer. However, both methods will wipe your iPhone and install a fresh OS install… so make doubly sure you have a backup before resetting.

I can’t tell you how to backup/restore via iCloud as I have never used it and have iCloud Backup turned off on my iPhone and iPad (Settings > Apple ID > iCloud Device Backups > iCloud Backup).

Hope this helps…

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J9438

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Rick Corbett wrote:

Have you tried

1) My phone has MMS button. Turned off. Power down. Hold power button on several secs to turn on. Still iMessage button showing awaiting activation.

2) Sign out/Sign in

3) iTunes automatically backuped the phone before I could do a restore so was afraid it would just pick up bad configuration. However, did restore. Rick you are a genius. iMessage works after the restore. Thank you so much!!!!!!!

I  am still puzzled why this happened. I have done everyone of the dozens of updates on both phones with never any interference to iMessage. Very strange. I guess now, thanks to this fix by Rick, I will try the update to the other phone.

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Alex5723

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Because even in the robust Apple patching ecosystem updates can hiccup.  I would have completely turned off the phone and turned it back on, then turned off imessages and then turned it back on again.

My guess is that when it updates again it probably will update just fine.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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J9438

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J9438 wrote:

I am still puzzled why this happened.

When I updated from iOS 16.5. to 16.5.1 I found that automatic forwarding of iMessages (Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding) from iPhone to iPad suddenly stopped.

It took me a while to fix it and I still don’t know WHY it happened. However, I guessed that your experience was similar.

Glad it worked for you. Thanks for letting us know in case it helps others.

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J9438

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Are both signed in with the same apple ID?  If so the messages for the apple id should sync on both devices.

Sometimes settings get reset on update.  I’ve seen iphones suddenly stop letting calls through and it’s because the privacy settings were changed so that only those folks on the person’s contact list were allowed to call.

After any update if weird stuff occurs, sometimes even in the apple system the patch can do weird things.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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J9438

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Susan Bradley wrote:

Are both signed in with the same apple ID? If so the messages for the apple id should sync on both devices.

I use the same Apple ID on both devices and both updated from 16.5 to 16.5.1 one after another (as I update through Windows via iTunes).

I think the cause for my particular issue was because I have multiple addresses in Settings > Messages > Send & Receive… but I can’t be certain.

I’ve fixed it now using Restore on my iPhone so it appears it was a slight glitch with the iOS update rather than the iPadOS update.

(I think the cause for the OP was possibly about the 30-day limit that Apple remembers each device’s eligibility for iMessage but, again, I can’t be sure.)

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J9438

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I just installed 16.5.1 to my other phone and installed okay. However, at first I got mixed results on iMsg vs SMS.

Ph1                 Ph2

iMsg turned  on                   on                worked fine both directions

off                   on                Ph2 to Ph1 failed

Ph1 to Ph2 worked fine

on                   off                 worked fine both directions

off                   off                 worked fine both directions

Went back again and tried the one that failed and it worked fine this time.

Susan Bradley wrote:

Are both signed in with the same apple ID

Yes both same. Only difference I can see is that Ph1 is a 5g whereas Ph 2 is the older 4g.

Thanks again for all your help. Since we are so dependent on phone txt for 2FA, that needs to work seemlessly. I also could not sign into iCloud from my iPhone as kept saying password invalid. I tried password on Apple.com and worked fine so I am thinking the pasword screen on the iPhone for iCloud only might not be accepting a 16 character password. The regular iPhone Apple password sign on screen does accept the password with no problems.

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Apple stopped signing 16.5 so no restore.

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J9438

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