How to Fix iMessage/Message Not Working on iOS 10/11/11.1/11.2/11.3

The new iOS 11/11.3 have been released to public. Now the latest batch of iOS 11 - iOS 11.3 is also available. Indeed, new iOS contains more features, however, each year, there are many update problems reported in Messages, Touch ID and so on. Recently, we got emails from a lot of users complaining their messages/iMessages not working in iOS 11/11.1/11.2 or the latest iOS 11.3.

Actually, there are a lot of problems relating to messages or iMessages, like messages/iMessage not sending/delivered, not received, or iMessages won't activate, iOS 11 messages new effects not working, and some also find that messages disappeared after iOS update. No matter what kind of issues you are encountering and why iMessage not working, follow this post and you can get some potential fixes.

 

The newly launched iOS 11/11.1/11.2 and iOS 11.3 contain lots of new features like customized app drawer, one-handed keyboard mode, person-to-person payments. Please refer to other pages to know more.

Part 1. iMessage/Messages Not Delivered/Sending After iOS 11.3/11.2/11.1/11 Update

You may be just chatting with your friends with iMessage but only to see iMessage not showing delivered/sending on your iPhone or iPad after upgrading to iOS 11/11.1/11.2/11.3.

How to Fix:

• Make sure you have connected to Wi-Fi or 3G/4G network.
• Tap the ! alert option and try again.
• Turn off and turn on iMessage: Settings > Message > Turn off and turn on iMessage.
• Reboot your iPhone or iPad.

Part 2. iMessage Fail to Activate After iOS 10/11/11.1/11.2/11.3 Update

After updating to iOS 10/11/11.1/11.2/11.3, you may see an iMessage waiting for activation error on your iPhone or iPad and fail to activate iMessage after trying again and again.

How to Fix:

• Make sure Date & Time are correct: Settings > General > Date & Time > Set Automatically.
• Make sure you've connected to Wi-Fi.
• Make sure your Carrier support iMessage.
• Turn on Airplane mode and turn it off.

Part 3. Message App Crashes or Freezes After iOS 10/11/11.1/11.2/11.3 Update

Many iPhone users have experienced this on previous iOS 9 or iOS 10 update, no surprisingly, this also happened in iOS 11/11.1/11.2/11.3 update. If someone sends you a message and your message app keeps crashing or freezing, try fixes below:

How to Fix:

• Use Siri to send a message to the person who just sent message to you.
• Let that person text you again.
• Delete that message just sent to you.
• Reset your iDevice.

Part 4. iPhone Not Receiving Messages/iMessages

Apple allows you to send green bubble messages and blue bubble iMessages on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. If you can't receive or send messages/iMessages in iOS 11.3/11.2/11.1/11/10, try solutions here.

How to Fix:

• Reset your iPhone or iPad.
• Turn off LTE or use it for data only.
• Reset network settings: Settings > General > Reset > Reset network settings.

Part 5. iOS 10/11/11.1/11.2/11.3 Messages Not Opening/Blank

After upgrading to iOS 10/11/11.1/11.2/11.3, some users complained on twitter that Message App not opening or the Message App is white and blank. If you also have the same problem after iOS update, you can try with following solutions: Restart your iPhone: Hold on Power button until the “slide to power off” appears and then scroll to turn it off.

• Try a hard reboot: Hold down Home and Power button for 10 seconds at the same time until while apple logo appears, and then release your fingers.
• Reset all settings: on your iDevice, go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings.
• Restore your iPhone/iPad and then set it as new. Please make a full back of your iPhone iPad before staring restoring your iDevice.

Part 6. iOS 10/11/11.1/11.2/11.3 iMessages Features/Effects Not Working

In iOS 10, more features were equipped like send handwritten messages, so does in iOS 11/11.1/11.2/11.3. However, if these new features not working on your iPhone/iPad, try to fix it with following methods.

Method 1: Disable Reduce Motion

To fix iMessage effects not working on iOS 10, the easies way is turning off Reduce Motion. About how to do it, you just need to on your iPhone/iPad: go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Reduct Motion > Tap it to off.

Method 2: Turn off iMessage and then turn it on

On your iPhone or iPad, go to settings > Messages > iMessages > Tap on it to off > Turn it on again.

Method 3: Make sure iMessage is sending from your phone number

After trying the two methods above, if you still fail to fix this iOS 10/11/11.1/11.2/11.3 message problem, you need to check and see if iMessage is sending from your phone number. About how to check it and set it up, you can follow the steps below:

Go to Settings > Messages > Send & Receive > Select your phone number in the column of “Start New Conversation From”.

Note: If still didn’t fix, you can try to remove all the emails from the column of You Can Be Reached by iMessages At.

Method 4: Disable 3D Touch and try again

If you still haven’t fixed this iMessage problem, you can try to disable 3D Touch on your iPhone, and then turn it on again if it works.Touch on your iPhone, go to Settings > General > Accessibility > 3D Touch > Tap on it to turn it off.

Part 7. iOS 10/11/11.1/11.2/11.3 Messages/iMessages Disappeared

You may easily get into the dilemma of losing messages after iOS 10/11/11.1/11.2/11.3 upgrade, which can be worse if you didn’t make any backup in advance. Don’t be panic, and PhoneRescue for iOS might be your last straw to retrieve lost messages upgrading to iOS 10/11/11.1/11.2/11.3. It is an all-sided iOS data recovery and iPhone backup extractor.

With PhoneRescue for iOS, you can get back lost or deleted SMS/iMessages, notes, contacts, call history, photos, and more from iOS 11.3/11.2/11.1/11/10 and iPhone X/8/7/SE/6s/6/5s.

It supports 3 recovering mode: Recover from an iDevice, Recover from iTunes Backup and Recover from iCloud.

Step 1. Go to the download page of PhoneRescue and click iOS Data Recovery to download and install on your PC or Mac. Run it and connect with your iOS 10/11/11.1/11.2/11.3 device. Choose Recover from iOS Device and start to scan your iPhone.

Step 2. By default, all categories will be selected. Please choose Messages and uncheck other boxes. Click OK to start scanning.

Step 3. Select Messages and Message Attachments > Select the contacts with messages you want to retrieve > Preview the deleted text messages > Select the items you want to recover > Click Recover to iPhone or Recover to Computer button.