Iphone Won’t Activate Verizon (why + Potential Fixes)

If you just purchased an iPhone and are bringing it over to Verizon from another carrier, you might be wondering why it isn’t activating. If anyone has any insight, please post it in the comments! Thanks!

Well, I’ve been working my way through the Verizon documentation and have learned all there is to know. I’ve been doing everything I can, but there are certain aspects I can’t control. When you contact them, you’ll still get the same answers, but I’d like anyone facing the same problems to be able to get the answers they want.

Why Won’t My iPhone Activate Verizon In 2022?

If you have trouble activating your iPhone with Verizon, it could be due to numerous issues, such as if you still have Find My Phone enabled on your old Apple device, or it could be caused by a SIM card issue, such as needing an eSIM for the new iPhone and not a physical SIM card in 2022.

The second time (the first one is in italics) is the actual title.

If you’re getting an error message that says your iPhone won’t activate on Verizon, you can fix the issue by knowing how to activate your phone on Verizon.

1. Find My Phone Is Still Activated

If you’re going to be upgrading your iPhone on Verizon, make sure that you first disable Find My iPhone on your old iPhone.

2. Old iPhone Is Still On

It is not possible to activate an iPhone on Verizon if there is still an iPhone turned on. You’ll need to turn off the iPhone before activating on Verizon.

3. SIM Card May Be Wrong

The current iPhone 8, 8+ and X devices all support 5G when they’re purchased from Verizon as a standalone purchase. If purchased from T-Mobile or other carriers, it will support the 4G network.

This means that those people who have purchased a 5G device from Verizon but have not previously installed a 5G SIM card, will not have the benefit of utilizing the network.

4. Wi-Fi Network Is Not Available

A lot of people try to activate their phones through Wi-Fi, but might not notice if the Wi-Fi network isn’t available or active on the device.

Before trying to activate your new iPhone, you should ensure that the new iPhone is connected to the Wi-Fi network.

5. Outside of the Verizon LTE Coverage Area

If you try to use your device while it is outside of the Verizon LTE coverage area, it will not connect to the network, the reason being that there is no signal.

You can activate the iPhone over Wi-Fi if you feel like you’re ready to do the initial setup. You will need a secure network (SSID: “YOUR_WIFI_NAME”) to activate the iPhone using Wi-Fi. To activate the iPhone over Wi-Fi, please visit “Activate iPhone over Wi-Fi” for detailed setup instructions.

6. IMEI Number Needed

iphones sometimes just don’t activate, and it’s because Verizon needs the IMEI number.

Verizon customers have reported that they called the Verizon Customer Service, and gave the representative the IMEI number and the phone was activated instantly.

7. Need to Restart Device to Activate

Some people have issues activating their iPhone on Verizon, that’s because they haven’t restarted their device, so turning the phone off and back on can solve this problem in certain situations.

8. Device Isn’t Charged

The iPhone is off due to inactivity. So you need to either turn the iPhone on or charge it so it will be ready to use.

Therefore, you should charge the device in order to ensure that it has enough power to go through the activation process.

9. iPhone 13 Purchased From Apple

When you purchase your iPhone, you will need to activate the eSIM, since it doesn’t have a 5G module.

10. IMEI 2 Not Activated for eSIM

This will happen to anyone who has a new iPhone with an eSIM, whether from Apple or another source. You’ll need to enter the IMEI 2 to activate a SIM card.

To fix this, customers have reported that you can go into the Verizon website, then select “My Devices,” and from there, activate the line by entering the Mobile Device Identifier.

11. Software Needs to Be Updated

If you want to use iTunes to activate your phone, you will need to make sure that the iTunes software is updated before you try to activate the phone.

You need to go into your iTunes app store and look for updates to the software before beginning the activation process.

12. SIM Not Properly Installed

The SIM card created a lot of problems if not installed properly. This wasn’t the reason why my iPhone didn’t activate on Verizon.

In order to fix the issue, all you have to do is pull out your SIM card, wait for a second, and put it back into the phone, ensuring that the connector of the SIM card lines up with the slot.

13. eSIM Isn’t Disabled If Using Physical SIM

A new feature could be turned off in your Apple iPhone if you don’t use a SIM card but activate with an eSIM.

In order to activate the physical SIM card, you’ll need to turn off your device, install the physical SIM card, disable the eSIM, and then turn your device off and back on.

For a full explanation as to why we are not actually allowed to post the answer, you can read in our Verizon Review Policy.

Conclusion

Your iPhone is not activating on Verizon because it is not working properly.

*Other issues can be resolved by your local AT&T Apple Store.

1. Go to Settings > General > About and look for your phone’s serial number.

You can try to activate the phone wirelessly instead of through a data plan if you don’t have LTE, or you can check if you have LTE coverage.
If that is the case, please call [number] to activate your phone using your SIM card.