Fixing Facetime Issue: Error Occurred During Activation.
If this is your first time trying to activate FaceTime on your device and you receive the error message “FaceTime: An error occurred during activation”, then there is a problem with one of the elements that FaceTime uses to activate. Until these issues are resolved, you will run into issues when activating the service on your devices.
Apple officially acknowledges the problem and even offers recommendations on what you can do to fix it on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. There are a few basic things you can always try and apply on your devices to see if they help you successfully activate FaceTime on your iPhone or Mac.
Check to see if Apple’s servers are experiencing downtime
When you set up a feature like FaceTime, it needs to contact one of Apple’s servers before it can work on your device. In fact, the activation process takes place with the Apple server, and if that server goes down, the activation process will fail.
So the question is, how in this world can you tell if Apple’s FaceTime server is down? Well, Apple has created a webpage to tell you about it.
Apple’s website has a server status page that lists which of its servers are up and down. You can go there using a web browser and find out for yourself if the FaceTime server is really down.
If so, you need to wait for Apple to restore the server. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about it.
–
If you’d rather have something on your Mac desktop, StatusBuddy will also inform you about Apple service outages.
Make sure the Internet is working on your device
Since FaceTime is one of the features on your device that requires an internet connection, you need to make sure that the internet on your phone is actually working. If you are in an area where you have unstable internet or your Wi-Fi router is malfunctioning, you need to fix it first before you can activate FaceTime.
However, on an iOS device, you can reset the network settings and this can help you fix the network settings.
- Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Click on the General option to view your general settings.
- Scroll to the end of the next screen and tap the Reset option.
- Select “Reset Network Settings†on the next screen. This will help you restore the factory default network settings.
- You will be prompted for a password. Enter it and continue.
Enable your Apple account for Messages
If you haven’t already, you can turn on your account in the Messages app on your Mac. This might help you fix the FaceTime activation error you are experiencing on your devices. To enable the account, just check the box in the application on your computer.
- Click on Launchpad, find messages and launch the application on your Mac.
- When it opens, click on the “Messages” option at the top and select “Settings”. The settings menu will open.
- On the next screen, click the Accounts tab at the top to view the available accounts.
- You will now see your account listed. What you want to do is check the Enable this account box next to your account.
- Close the application, restart your Mac and see if you can activate FaceTime.
Make sure your time zone is configured correctly
A misconfigured time zone can often cause a lot of problems on your devices, as some apps require you to use the correct time zone you are in. However, you can fix this quite easily.
Change the time zone. On iPhone / iPad:
- Open the Settings app on your device.
- Click on the General option as this is where your time settings are located.
- Click Date & Time on the next screen.
- You can select your time zone from the options available on your screen.
- If you don’t want to manually specify your time zone, enable the “Set Automatically” option and it will automatically set the correct time zone.
Change the time zone on Mac:
- Click the Apple logo in the upper left corner of the screen and choose System Preferences.
- Select the date and time on the next screen.
- Click the Time Zone tab and you can specify the time zone for your computer.
Turn FaceTime off and on again
Apple recommends disabling both Messages and FaceTime and then re-enabling them, which should likely fix the “FaceTime: an error occurred during activation” issue on your devices. Sometimes all that some features need is a reboot and they magically start working fine.
- Launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Scroll down and click on the “Messages” option.
- On the next screen, you’ll find a radio button next to iMessage. Set the switch to OFF.
- Go back to the main settings screen and click on the FaceTime option.
- Set the toggle next to FaceTime to OFF.
- Restart the device.
- Go to settings and enable both options you disabled above.
- Try activating FaceTime and see if it works.
Remove FaceTime entries from Keychain Access
Deleting FaceTime entries from Keychain Access on your Mac can help you fix the FaceTime activation error, and it’s pretty simple to do.
- Launch Keychain Access on your Mac.
- Click Login in the left sidebar and also click All Items in the same sidebar to display all the saved items in your Keychain.
- Use the search box at the top for FaceTime searches.
- When the search results appear, right-click the FaceTime entries and choose Delete.
- Do this for all the records you find in the application.
Whether you’re a regular FaceTime user setting up this feature on a new device or you’re new to this video and audio calling feature on iOS, you don’t expect it to start showing errors as soon as you open it on your devices.
Have you been a victim of this error before on your iOS device or Mac? What method helped you fix this? Our readers will appreciate your response in the comments below.
–