Question :
Recently, people have started complaining that they can no longer send me iMessages. They get a message that their iMessages have to be re-sent as regular SMS… and when they get iMessages from me, they appear to be sent from my iCloud-account…
…I tried to find anything to adjust on my iPhone, but in the iMessage settings, both my phone no. and my iCloud-account are listed, but… only the iCloud-account is in black and has a checkmark in front of it, the phone no. has been greyed out and doesn’t have a checkmark… and I can’t seem to activate the phone no. as I can’t find a way to get a checkmark in front…
Note : I’m not sure when I first encountered this problem, it could have started after upgrading to iOS 7, or due to having to temporarily switch phone carriers when I went abroad.
Is there any way to fix this ?
Answer :
Yes.
There is a relatively simple fix for this :
1- on your iPhone, go to “Settings”, then to “Messages”, and then switch off “iMessage”
2- then, back in “Settings”, go to “FaceTime”, and switch off “FaceTime” also
3- then shut off your iPhone by pressing the (physical) ON/OFF-button top-right on your iPhone
4- then switch your iPhone back on, go to “Settings”, then to “Messages”, switch “iMessage” back on, and wait for the “Send & Receive” to display “x Addresses”
5- then click on “x Addresses”, and you will see a list of the “YOU CAN BE REACHED BY IMESSAGE AT” starting with your phone no. with a checkmark in front of it – if it’s greyed out, that’s no problem… if there’s no checkmark, wait a few moments for it to appear… if it doesn’t, then redo the entire OFF&ON-switching process of both iMessage and FaceTime
6- then go back to “Settings”, then to “FaceTime”, switch “FaceTime” back on, and wait for the list of “YOU CAN BE REACHED BY FACETIME AT”-list to display, again starting with your phone no. with a checkmark in front of it
…again : if it’s greyed out, that’s no problem… if there’s no checkmark, wait a little… and if there’s still no checkmark after that… redo the entire OFF&ON-switching process of both iMessage and FaceTime
7- if you still don’t get the checkmarks to appear after a second attempt, redo the entire OFF&ON-switching of both iMessage and FaceTime again, but this time, make sure you switch off iMessage first and instead of just simply shutting down your iPhone, do a restart by pressing both physical buttons on the iPhone simultaneously (both the Menu-button below-screen and the ON/OFF-button top-right on the housing), and then wait for the white Apple logo to re-appear…
That should be it !
Enjoy !
MacManus.nl 
Worked like a charm, thanks for the info!
@Guillaume :
Good to hear !
Thanks for the feedback 😉
I have the same problem except my iMessage switch is greyed out and I cannot turn it off. Any advice on how to fix this?
@TL :
Sorry to hear it doesn’t work for you.
Could it be you have iMessage switched off ? Check your settings to see if you have any restrictions switched on that might prevent iMessage from working.
Or did you you switch to a new iPhone ? …in that case you old iPhone might need to get un-attached from your account.
To do so, you should contact Apple’s Helpdesk or go to an AppleStore (you might need an appointment to get service in-store, so calling is a better option probably…)
Good Luck !
Nice guide. But for me it was no luck, unfortunately for me it is not working. 😦 Before my imessage was working but right now it is not.
@Vhir :
Sorry to hear it doesn’t work for you.
Could it be you have iMessage switched off ? Check your settings to see if you have any restrictions switched on that might prevent iMessage from working.
Or did you you switch to a new iPhone ? …in that case you old iPhone might need to get un-attached from your account.
To do so, you should contact Apple’s Helpdesk or go to an AppleStore (you might need an appointment to get service in-store, so calling is a better option probably…)
Good Luck !
It worked for me! Thank you so much!
@2birdsandaboss :
Good to hear !
Thanks for the feedback 😉
enjoy !
it still doesn’t work, i don’t know what to check that might be switched to prevent the imessage. i only receive text message but not imessage unless i have wifi. i just got a new line like a month ago and around may 1 i had to pay my bill and i payed it, since i payed it, imessage stopped working on my cellular .
@juliet :
Sorry to hear it doesn’t work for you.
Could it be you have iMessage switched off ? Check your settings to see if you have any restrictions switched on that might prevent iMessage from working.
Or did you you switch to a new iPhone ? …in that case you old iPhone might need to get un-attached from your account.
To do so, you should contact Apple’s Helpdesk or go to an AppleStore (you might need an appointment to get service in-store, so calling is a better option probably…)
Good Luck !