Imessage Error on Macbook Air an Error Occurred During Activation Try Again

It's another regular day.

Yous start up your Mac and if y'all encounter an update on your Mac then you make sure to requite your Mac the update it needs to keep your Mac in fine shape.

Even so, once everything'due south updated, you lot endeavor to open upwardly your Messages or your FaceTime on your Mac only you find that the very first thing that yous see is an mistake saying "An error occurred during activation. Try again. Could not sign in to iMessage (or FaceTime)."

Not and so great. Then the side by side grade of action you take is to cheque whether it works on your iPhone or iPad (if you take whatever one of those) only curiously your device works every bit you are able to receive letters and make calls on your device(due south).

Information technology seems it just doesn't work on your Mac and particularly once afterward that yous've updated it. So what do we practise?

In this guide, I'll testify yous what I tried and how I did manage to set the error and have both my iMessage and FaceTime working flawlessly on my Macbook Pro. 🙂

Mistake Occurred During Activation for iMessage or FaceTime on Mac: 13 Ways

1.  Call back to Enable Your Apple tree ID for Messages.

The very offset thing to exercise is to cross out that you lot take enabled your Apple tree ID for Messages.

If you haven't and then information technology explains why you lot may be getting the error.

Here'south how you enable your Apple ID for Letters:

Step ane:  Jump into your Messages and and so from the tiptop card select Preferences.

Step two:  Next, select Accounts.

Step iii:  Now do you lot come across iMessage to your left manus sidebar? Alright, select iMessage.

Step four:  For the concluding step, check if your Apple tree ID data shows up. Also make sure that you bank check the little box for Enable this business relationship. If y'all notice that it was already checked, then just uncheck, count to 30, so come dorsum to check the box once over again.

You can try signing once over again into your Letters or FaceTime awarding on your Mac to see if the error has gone.

2.  Check If There Is an Outage from Apple's Side.

At times it could just all be a problem with Apple having a system outage or something and too it's best to cheque it before we get into the nitty-gritty fixes.

Anyhow an outage happens more frequently than you lot think. To check if Apple tree's system is down, just leap into the Apple System Status page and pay attention to both the iMessage and FaceTime statuses.

If the statuses show up equally yellow then that ways there is an issue from Apple'south side which they're nigh probable are already working on fixing it.

Yet if it shows up as green, and so there no issues that hold upward Apple's services. Keep reading to discover out what else that you can try to fix the "Error occurred during Activation error" error.

3.  Check your Date & Time Settings.

Adjusting to brand certain the Appointment & Time settings are correct has seemingly worked for some users over at Apple'south Support Communities.

Here'southward how you can brand sure that your Engagement & Time Settings are in check:

Step one:  Jump into your Apple Menu and and so select System Preferences.

Step 2:  Next, select Date & Time.

Step 3:  Now what yous practise is, is to check and verify that the engagement, time and the time zone that are your Mac is in are all correct and precise.

Step 4:  Done? Great. Next, just check the box for the setting Set appointment and fourth dimension automatically. Now if the checkbox was already checked, then uncheck it, count to xxx, then bank check it back again.

Notwithstanding, if the checkbox was dimmed, then click the little lock icon below and then enter your administrator countersign.

Help! What if I don't know my administrator proper noun or password?

Hither's a swell guide past Apple themselves on how you tin reset both your ambassador proper name and countersign. 🙂

4.  Bank check your Apple ID.

If your Apple ID or its countersign is wrong, then chances are information technology could be the reason why you lot're not being allowed to activate your iMessage or your FaceTime and hence why it throws the error.

Here'southward you can cheque to make sure everything's correct with your Apple ID:

Step 1:  Get ahead open upward your web browser (or if you're reading this on your Mac, then go alee open a new tab) and so jump to your Apple ID business relationship page so sign in with the same Apple ID that y'all're using with your Letters and FaceTime.

Pace 2:  Now we've arrived at a crossroads and there's two ways this can go:

one. Yous are able to sign in with your Apple ID (which is great!). Yous can and then jump to Step three.

2. You are not able to sign in with your Apple ID. You lot're going to need to then follow the on-screen instructions to reset your countersign or visit Apple'south iForgot page.

It could very well be…
Information technology could likewise exist that your Apple ID is disabled which could be because you may have entered your password incorrectly too many times in a row or you simply may not have used your Apple ID for a long time which caused it to be disabled since it was inactive.

If y'all call back whatsoever of those situations seems to resonate with you lot or you simply want to bank check to make sure, then I become over in the post-obit writeup on how you lot can set up an Apple tree ID that is disabled.

How to Prepare When Apple ID is Disabled

Footstep 3:  Next, on your Mac, open up your Letters, and then Preferences and and then select Accounts.

Step iv:  Now select your iMessage account then click Sign Out.

Step v:  Count to 10 seconds and sign back in with the same Apple tree ID you merely signed out from.

Step 6:  Swell. Repeat this for your FaceTime besides past opening upwardly your FaceTime, then Preferences and then Settings.

Step 7:  Select to Sign Out, count to ten once again so sign back in with the same Apple ID that you just signed out from.

5.  Reset "NVRAM".

Now you don't really need to know what the heck "NVRAM" is in order for y'all to attempt this. Information technology's all merely put just a bunch of settings that deals with how your iMessage and FaceTime piece of work and information technology is located in a specific site. That specific site in your Mac is what's called NVRAM (or PRAM if you're on an older Mac).

Note

Once yous reset your Mac'south NVRAM, settings like your Audio Book, Brandish Resolution, Startup Deejay option, Time Zone will exist reset to default. So make certain to remember what you've set for those settings (you tin can even write them downwardly someplace). This is and then that once you lot've reset information technology y'all can then adjust information technology back to your previous settings.

Alright. Hither's how y'all reset information technology:

Step 1:  Go ahead, shut downwards your Mac then turn information technology on and immediately printing and hold down all the following 4 keys (equally your Mac boots up): Option + Control + P + R.

Footstep 2:  Count to 30 seconds and and so release the keys. Your Mac will appear to restart while as yous hold down the keys. But make certain to have note of the post-obit:

Note

1. If your Mac typically plays a startups chinkle everytime it boots up, then what you practice is you release the keys afterward the second startup audio. Here'southward a keen guide by Apple themselves on recognizing your Mac'southward chime.
2. If your Mac is an iMac Pro or if you take 1 of the MacBook Pro models from 2018, so release the keys afterward the Apple tree logo appears and disappears for the 2d time.
3. Also if you're using a firmware countersign, which if you don't know what it is then it is mostly probable that y'all've non set a firmware countersign, simply if you accept then y'all are going to demand to plow off the firmware password first before y'all reset the NVRAM.

Step 3:  Lastly, once you've reset the NVRAM, yous can update the settings like your Sound Volume, Brandish Resolution, Startup disk selection, and Time zone back to how you starting time initially set it.

6.  Check any 3rd-Party Networking or Security.

If you have installed any firewall, anti-virus security, VPN, or any 3rd-party networking software onto your Mac, then brand sure to bank check that it isn't blocking any of the network ports that iMessage and FaceTime apply.

Yous don't accept to disable everything and information technology's best you try by temporarily disabling the software ane past one or the ones you're suspicious of and then one time disabled endeavour signing into iMessage and FaceTime again. 🙂

7.  Try Opening iMessage and FaceTime from the Applications Folder Itself.

Some of our readers have reported that their Messages and FaceTime immediately started working the moment they opened the Messages or FaceTime app from the Applications folder on difficult drive of the Mac.

Endeavor it, Leap into your hard drive of your Mac, open up the Applications binder and and so open upward either Messages or FaceTime and check out if it launches and yous are able to sign in without getting thrown at with errors.

If information technology works, cracking! You can remove the old icons from your Mac'due south Dock then elevate the new, error-free ones from the Applications binder into the Dock.

If information technology doesn't work, don't get discouraged. 🙂

Keep reading and eventually you will definitely get i to work.

8.  Have You Recently Migrated Your Mac User Account?

If y'all've migrated your Mac user account, maybe because y'all may have bought a new Mac or what not, then you may have information associated with your ID that's no longer valid.

Here'south how you can right the error.

Pace 1:  Go alee shut your Messages or your FaceTime on your Mac and and then jump into your Applications, so Utilities and and so select Keychain Access.

Step ii:  Side by side, do you see Login to your height left paw sidebar? Proficient. Select Login and and so select Passwords from the lower left paw sidebar.

Step 3:  Now using Spotlight Search (it'south the search bar), type in "IDS". Look closely for an item that shows your unique Apple tree ID together with a "-AuthToken" at the end.

Hither's an example:

• ids: [electronic mail protected]

Pace 4:  Found information technology? Great! Now these IDS-AuthTokens are like special encryption keys (safe keys) for your iMessage that are kept on your Mac. I know removing encryption keys sounds similar opening yourself up for trouble, but no. You see, once yous remove these keys, your Mac and Apple Servers will automatically create new ones and rebuild them. Fresh keys!

Footstep 5:  And so yeah, delete the file(s) which contains the Apple ID yous're having bug with. Don't delete anything else that does not have the Apple ID email address you're having problems with in information technology.

Step 6:  Finally, only shut the window, restart your Mac, and so launch your Messages or FaceTime once more. Effort signing in once more and it should work.

If it still doesn't work, then attempt this …

9.  Part II: A Few Adjustments.

If y'all had washed the previous trick simply y'all still observe that your FaceTime or Letters throw an fault like "Could non sign in to iMessage. An error occurred during activation. Try once more." and so there'south one more additionally affair that you can do to try and fix it.

This time, you lot're going to do exactly the aforementioned as what y'all did before this except you'll exist removing certain other files from your Keychain.

Here's what you do:

Step 1:  Bound dorsum into your Applications, so Utilities and and so select Keychain Admission.

Step 2:  Now expect for these 2 files:

• ids: identity-rsa-private-key
• ids: identity-rsa-public-central

Also if you discover the same verbal file that you had deleted earlier which goes past:

• ids: [email protected]

So select that as well.

Step 3:  Now once yous've selected those files, delete them. Once more zilch is going to happen as your Mac and Apple'southward Servers will create a brand new one that is updated and fixes your fault.

Stride iv:  One time you've deleted, restart your Mac and attempt once once more signing into your iMessage or your FaceTime.

10.  Part Three: Screw it, Delete them all.

If you tried deleting file past file and information technology still throws an error, then only become ahead delete all the files with "ids" in front of it.

Here's how:

Step i:  Jump back into your Applications, then Utilities and so select Keychain Access.

Stride two:  Next using Spotlight Search (the search bar) type in "IDS".

Step iii:  Finally, simply delete all those files (under the Kind category, do brand sure the files are of application countersign of kind).

Step 4:  In one case you've deleted them, once more close your Keychain, restart your Mac, open up up either your iMessage or FaceTime and endeavor signing again.

It should work. If not, there'southward few other methods that yous can take upwardly to try and set up the mistake.

11.  Turn off the iCloud Keychain.

Your iCloud Keychain is meant to link up your usernames and passwords, credit carte information and your WiFi network information across all your devices (that are signed in using that same Apple ID).

But your iCloud Keychain can get dislocated at times with your Mac'south Keychain (the ones nosotros had deleted earlier in the earlier parts) which includes your iMessage and FaceTime keys.

So the way to get over this state of affairs is to plow off the iCloud key since it is messing things up. Here's how yous do it:

Step 1:  Get alee open up your Arrangement Preferences and and then select iCloud.

Step ii:  Adjacent, uncheck the box for Keychain.

Stride 3:Washed? Good. Now cull to Keep on this Mac a copy of all your Safari passwords and credit cards onto your Mac. This safely keeps all your data so that it doesn't get deleted all together with your iCloud Keychain itself which would be a waste.

Step four:  Great! In one case you've done that just close your Organisation Preferences, restart your Mac, open up back your iMessage or FaceTime and then try signing once again and run across if it works.

12.  Remove Your iMessage and FaceTime Keys from Your Keychain.

You must exist pretty tired of having to read "keys" and "Keychain" by now, I assure you lot this will be the last, and then hang in in that location.

This method works to refresh the encryption keys that is existence held and used by your iMessage and FaceTime.

Here's how y'all do it:

Step 1:  Go ahead select Applications, then Utilities and and then your Keychain Access.

Step 2:  Next select Login from the top left manus corner and and so select All Items from the lower left hand sidebar.

Step 3:  At present using Spotlight Search (the search bar) type in "FaceTime".

Step 4:  You should exist presented with a select number of file(s). Delete the files or file.

Footstep 5:  Repeat Step three and Stride four but this time typing in "iMessage" into Spotlight Search and delete those files too.

Stride 6:  Once yous're washed, merely restart your Mac, launch either your Messages or FaceTime and try signing again.

13.  Delete your Mac'due south Push Notifications for iMessage and FaceTime.

Whenever you send a message on your Mac, your Mac uses a special file chosen a APSD file (Apple tree Button Notification Service Daemon) that'south stored in your Mac. This file helps your Mac to log in and transport message alerts to iMessage and FaceTime using Apple's network.

Remember of it as a middleman between Apple's Servers and your iMessage or FaceTime Applications.

Particularly, if yous find that the final time your FaceTime or iMessage synced was sometime agone and you notice the APSD file is not updating information technology to today's date, then there's a high take a chance that the reason you're getting an error is a trouble with that file itself.

Empathise? Well, it's great if you do understand but withal that's not the of import thing hither. The of import thing now is that we fix it and the mode we exercise that is nosotros remove this "APSD" file from our Mac, and so let our Mac recreate the file.

And then let'southward exercise that.

Note

It's important to back up your Mac before doing this. This is so if anything goes wrong we take backup.

At present there'south 2 ways y'all can do this:

1.  Using your Mac'southward Concluding. (Fastest)

Pace i:  Open up your Mac'south Terminal and then copy (Control + C) and paste (Control + 5) the following command into your Final:

sudo rm LibraryPreferences/com.apple tree.apsd.plist        

Step 2:  One time you've re-create-pasted the command, hit Enter and that's it! The file will exist removed with simply one command.

Pace 3:  Finally, merely restart your Mac and then try signing into your iMessage and FaceTime to bank check if it works.

ii.  Without using your Mac's Terminal (Simplest)

Step ane:  Bound into your hard drive, so Library, and so Preferences.

Step 2:  Now drag the item named com.apple.apsd.plist and drop information technology into your Trash.

Step 3:  Side by side when yous're prompted to enter your Admin password, enter your Admin account password to remove the file.

Step four:  Finally, just restart your Mac and then effort signing into your iMessage and FaceTime to check if it works.

For the most role, the trouble should be stock-still now that that yous deleted and rebuilt the "APSD" file.

If it still doesn't work, then there'due south one concluding trick that y'all do.

14.  Time to Pick Up the Telephone.

If you've traveled outside your dwelling house state, or if you've entered the wrong password too many times (which is the primary reason which gets your Apple ID disabled) or if you've logged in using many different Apple tree IDs on your Mac then Apple's Servers are not going to take that lightly and may terminate up blocking your Mac's Apple tree ID access to iMessage or FaceTime altogether.

Other cases could be if Apple suspects your account is being hacked, and then Apple will block from the server finish your Mac's access of the Apple tree ID for iMessage, FaceTime and sometimes even other iCloud services.

So if you lot went through all of the in a higher place methods and you're reading this, and so the best class of activity now is to give Apple tree Support a phone call and request them to cheque the iMessages/FaceTime servers to meet if they blocked your Apple ID from being used on your Mac.

They'll appreciate it.🙂

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Source: https://www.saintlad.com/error-occurred-during-activation-for-imessage-or-facetime-on-mac/

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