If you snagged a new Apple device such as an iPhone or an iPad for Christmas and are having a difficult time activating it, there’s a good reason for it: Apple’s activation servers are being bombarded given the new activity.
Although the Apple System Status page shows that everything is fine, it’s not difficult to find on Twitter or Reddit people complaining that they can’t activate their new iPhone or sign in to iMessage/FaceTime because it’s taking forever.
The same thing happened last year, as many users had a difficult time setting up a new device via iCloud:
We are experiencing a high capacity at this time which is impacting your ability to set up iCloud, please try back in a couple of hours.
This year, fewer users complained about issues activating a new iPhone.
Twitter user Willian Max, for example, described that he bought a new iPhone 12 and iCloud was taking forever not only to back up the older phone but to transfer the data for the new device.
Over on Reddit, the following guide was posted for activating an iPhone:
- Restart your iPhone.
- If you’re using a cellular-data connection, connect to a reliable Wi-Fi network instead.
- If you get an error message on your iPhone that says the activation server is temporarily unavailable or cannot be reached when trying to activate, wait a few minutes, then repeat the previous steps.
Another workaround is to use your Mac or Windows PC to back up and set up the device.
If you’ve experienced issues setting up a new Apple device, please let us know what’s happened on your end and what you did to fix it.
Via 9to5Mac, Apple, @willianmax, and Reddit