Bug affecting eSIM on iPhone deactivates iMessage and FaceTime
An eSim bug is making its way around iPhone models and is randomly deactivating iMessage and FaceTime. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that he experienced the issue while connected to his T-Mobile account, although others had the same problems on accounts belonging to other carriers.
Bloomberg's Gurman says he's been "bitten" by a "nasty" iPhone and T-Mobile bug
You might be familiar with the physical SIM card that you normally put into your phone's SIM slot allowing it to make phone calls, send text messages, and connect to internet services. The SIM card allows your phone to connect with your carrier. An eSIM is a digital SIM that is connected to the phone's motherboard and is activated by calling your carrier. The first iPhone models to use an eSIM were 2018's iPhone XR and iPhone XS.
There are a couple of workarounds that might help
Gurman disseminated his complaint in a tweet that read, "There is a very nasty iPhone and @TMobile bug where iMessage and FaceTime for a device's phone number will randomly deactivate and there is no way to reactivate it. The only solution that worked for me is getting a new physical SIM card. An extremely disappointing issue." Gurman said that as far as he can tell, the bug was wreaking havoc on iOS 15.4, iOS 15.5, and iOS 15.6 beta 1.
Others have reported that they have experienced the same issue even though they are not T-Mobile customers. There is a workaround that has helped. It is kind of complex, so get a notepad and a pen. Write the following: "Get a physical SIM card from your carrier and insert it in your phone."
Obviously, we were exaggerating about the complexity involved, but this should work. Others said that deactivating the eSIM and reactivating it worked like a charm while others just activated a new eSIM. Another Twitter user explained what happened to him.
T-Mobile reps say that Apple couldn't solve the problem
"Last week my eSIM for T-Mobile on my 13 Pro Max in the middle of the day deactivated itself and in settings kept trying to reactivate but said no service and eSIM said phone not allowed. Had to get T-Mobile to reissue new eSIM after they stupidly tried other things that did not work including want me to do a reset network settings. None of which worked."
Gurman didn't have a problem with T-Mobile and went on to thank the carrier's rep who quickly activated a physical SIM for his phone. T-Mobile reps told him that others had come into the store with the same issue and that Apple wasn’t able to resolve the problem.
So the Bloomberg writer pointed out that he personally went directly to T-Mobile, rather than Apple. Why? Because he assumed that Apple would be unable to solve the problem. He said, "There isn’t any troubleshooting they’d offer that I didn’t already try." He wasn't wrong.
So the Bloomberg writer pointed out that he personally went directly to T-Mobile, rather than Apple. Why? Because he assumed that Apple would be unable to solve the problem. He said, "There isn’t any troubleshooting they’d offer that I didn’t already try." He wasn't wrong.
As we noted, this is not just happening to T-Mobile subscribers. Those paying the largest carrier in the nation each month have also tweeted complaints. Here's one such tweet: "Had the exact same issue, but with @Verizon. I was using eSIM, and iOS 15.4 legit broke iMessage and FaceTime. I had to delete the eSIM and call Verizon to get a new one to fix the iMessage issue. Not a T-Mobile problem, but an iOS 15.4 bug."
This bug is all over the place, even outside of the U.S. If we can return to the magic Twitter board (which these days smells like Musk), check out this response: "This happened with me in India with Airtel. I did every possible thing to activate it but it kept loading and eventually showed could not activate. Had to swap the sim card and it worked!"
This bug is all over the place, even outside of the U.S. If we can return to the magic Twitter board (which these days smells like Musk), check out this response: "This happened with me in India with Airtel. I did every possible thing to activate it but it kept loading and eventually showed could not activate. Had to swap the sim card and it worked!"
If this issue is happening to you, don't give up. Swap to a new SIM card, have your carrier use a new eSIM, or raise a big stink. Make sure that your voice is heard so that your voice could be heard on your iPhone.
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