Is iMessage not working on your iPhone 13 Pro Max? Follow these simple tips to get iMessage sending and receiving again.
iMessage is one of those services you don’t really worry about until it’s gone. Is iMessage not working on your iPhone 13 Pro Max? When it hits the fan, you need to get it fixed, but how? We’re here to help, as we explain why iMessage is not working on iPhone 13 Pro Max and how to fix the issue.
With iMessage, you can send all sorts of messages to friends and family. iMessage allows you to send text, picture, location, video, and audio messages to anyone else using iMessage on iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch over Wi-Fi or cellular-data networks. These messages are always encrypted and appear in blue text bubbles. But if all of a sudden, iMessage is not working on your iPhone 13 Pro Max, messages are failing and showing red exclamation marks, and texts, photos, videos are not going through, this guide will walk through troubleshooting steps to fix and resolve issues where iMessage is not working on iPhone 13 Pro Max. Let’s get started!
Simple fixes for iMessage Not Working on iPhone 13 Pro Max
Let’s go through a variety of troubleshooting methods to fix iMessages not working on iPhone 13 Pro Max. Note: information in this article applies to iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Without further ado, here are the solutions when iMessage it isn’t working, failing, or not activating on iPhone 13 Pro Max:
1. Toggle Airplane mode on and off
Never overlook the simplest solution. Often we look for complicated, geeky methods, but if the iMessage is not working on your iPhone 13 Pro Max, one of the classic remedies might provide the cure. As any tech-head should know, ‘turning it off and on again’ is page one of the troubleshooting bible. Before trying other troubleshooting steps, you should deactivate and reactivate the internet connection. Open the Control Center with a swipe-down from the top right of the screen and select the Airplane icon to enable it. After a few seconds, switch it off again, and check if iMessage is working on your iPhone 13 Pro Max.
2. Make sure iMessage is enabled
If the trick mentioned above didn’t solve the iMessage not working on iPhone 13 Pro Max problem, make sure iMessage is switched on and is set correctly.
Go to Settings > Messages. Make sure the iMessage switch is green. Tap Send & Receive and ensure everything is correct here. You can choose to disable or enable selected emails and phone numbers for iMessage. Make sure to leave at least one of them checked.
3. Close and reopen Messages app
This is a simple, yet very functional troubleshooting tip that works most of the time. Often, simply closing and reopening the Messages app might fix any local issue. To do this, swipe up from the bottom of the screen to bring up the App Switcher. Now , drag the Messages app card all the way up to force quit it. After a few seconds, open the Messages app again and try sending an iMessage.
4. Make sure you have good internet connection
Is iMessage even the problem? It just might be your internet that’s letting you down. Try testing other apps or websites to see if they work. You can do something as simple as launching Google and searching for anything. Are other devices working? Check, if you have any. If nothing else works, you might be off the grid.
Start by checking if Airplane Mode is on. Those using Wi-Fi or LAN should take a look at the router and see if it’s connected. Try restarting it. There’s usually a dedicated button, but you can also unplug the router and plug it back in.
If you’re using cellular data, you might want to see if your data connection is on:
- Open the Settings app.
2.Select Cellular. - Toggle Cellular data on.
If you’re outside your country or network coverage, also toggle Roaming on (this may incur extra charges).
5. Restart your iPhone
It may sound silly, but this is seriously the most common troubleshooting tip, and it seems to work most times. Seriously, whenever you’re having problems with your tech, just restart it. It just may fix it.
Press and hold either the volume down or up button and side button. Then, drag the power off slider from left to right to power off your iPhone. After that, press and hold the side button to power up your iPhone. Now, try sending an iMessage. It should work as expected.
6. Make sure the date and time is set correctly
Apple recommends users set the date and time correctly for the iMessage to work. So, make sure to checkoff this essential box to fix iMessage not working on iPhone 13 Pro Max issue. You can do this by going to Settings > General > Date & Time. Now, turn on the toggle for Set Automatically. Now, restart your device, and iMessage not working on iPhone 13 problem will be gone.
7. Try sending an iMessage to a different person
You heard it right. Sometimes you may not be able to send an iMessage to a particular contact. But if you try sending it to someone else, it goes through. So, give this a try. And if it’s true, delete existing iMessage conversation and start again
8. Make sure everyone in group chat has iMessage
When you are starting a group chat in iMessage, make sure everyone you add has iMessage. Even if you add one person who isn’t on iMessage, it won’t work.
While typing the person’s name, if it turns blue, they are on iMessage. And if it is green, that means they aren’t.
Plus, when everything is set correctly, the typing text box (above the keyboard) shows the word iMessage. Else, it shows Text Message.
Note: If you have saved multiple phone numbers for a person, make sure to tap the tiny arrow and select their phone number or email that has iMessage.
9. Is iMessage down?
Is iMessage not working on your iPhone 13 Pro Max? There’s a chance it’s not working for anybody! This is not a common occurrence, but Apple’s services go down from time to time. Thankfully, there are a couple of ways to check if this is the case.
You can head over to the Apple’s system status page. This page will tell you if any Apple service is operational or not. Of course, iMessage is one of the listed apps. If you see a green dot next to iMessage, that means it’s functional. However, if you see a red or yellow dot next to iMessage, it means the service is facing an outage. Now, all you can do to get rid of this issue (you guessed it!) is to wait for Apple to fix the issue.
Alternatively, you can try a website like DownDetector. The site collects user reports to identify service outages. There’s even a map to see if the issue is local.
10. Check blocked contacts
After you block a person, they cannot send messages, FaceTime, or make regular calls to you. Thus if you aren’t receiving iMessage from someone you are expecting, take a few seconds to ensure they are not blocked accidentally.
Start the Settings app on your iPhone and tap Messages. Tap Blocked Contacts and ensure the person is not added here. If they are, swipe left on the name and tap Unblock.
11. Toggle iMessage off and on
If non of the above methods helped you resolve the iMessage not working on iPhone 13 Pro Max issue, then turn off iMessage and restart your device. At times, simply turning the iMessage toggle on and off lets you resolve this problem.
Start the Settings app on your iPhone 13 and tap Messages. Now, turn off iMessage. Restart your iPhone. Finally, navigate to Settings > Messages and enable iMessages and this should hopefully solve the problem.
12. Check for iOS update
If none of the tricks mentioned above help solves the iMessage not working on iPhone 13 Pro Max issue, there is a possibility that the outdated software is the culprit. So, what’s the solution? Pretty simple, check for a software update. You can do this by going to Settings > General > Software Update.
13. Reset Network Settings to fix iMessage not working on iPhone 13 Pro Max
No solution as yet? I guess a hidden network glitch could be preventing iMessage from working. In this case, the right way to go ahead is to reset network settings on your iPhone 13 Pro Max. You can do this by going to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings.
Once this is done, there is almost a certainty that iMessage will start working.
14. Asking for help from Apple
If all of the above steps have failed we advise you to seek professional help by contacting Apple Support.
Resolve iMessage not working on iPhone 13 Pro Max
That’s pretty much it! I guess you must have finally resolved the iMessage not working issue on your iPhone 13 Pro Max. From what I can tell based on my experience, these tricks often fix the iMessage not working error on my iPhone 13 Pro Max. Moreover, many times, simply turning on/off the iMessage toggle and rebooting the device does the trick. If you are still facing any issues, let us know in the comments, and we will be happy to lend a helping hand. If you know of any other tips to solve the puzzle of iMessage problem, feel free to share them in the comments!
I tried all these steps and after talking to Apple support for 2 days, finally figured out with the new update, the e-SIM wasn’t working. As soon as I went to T-Mobile and got a physical SIM card and put it in, my iMessage started working just fine. Hope that helps someone out there who went through the same issue I did.