13 Pro Tips to Fix iMessage not working on iPhone 13

Is iMessage not working on your iPhone 13? Follow these simple tips to get iMessage sending and receiving again.

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, 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 a iPhone 13. Let’s get started!

Troubleshooting iMessage Not Working on iPhone 13

Let’s go through a variety of troubleshooting methods to fix iMessages not working on iPhone 13. 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:

1. Toggle Airplane mode on and off

If you find iMessage not working on new iPhone 13, the very first solution that you should try is to turn on/ off Airplane mode. While this might look like a cliché fix, Airplane mode can help fix random network-related issues. So, before trying out other solutions to troubleshoot the iMessage not working on iPhone 13 issue, make sure to give it a shot. Go to Settings and enable the switch for Airplane Mode. Wait for some time and then disable Airplane mode. You may also do this from the iOS Control Center.

2. Check if iMessage is enabled or not

If the trick mentioned above didn’t solve the iMessage not working on iPhone 13 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. Force Quit the Messages app

1. If the above tricks did not help you resolve the iMessage not working issue on your iPhone 13, then force close and relaunch the messages app. At times, simply force quitting lets you fix this error. 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

Sometimes, a sloppy internet connection could be one of the main reasons for iMessage not working properly on your iPhone 13. So, ensure that your Wi-Fi or cellular connection is up to the mark. You can test this by making sure web browsers work. To browse the web, use Safari, or any other browser of your choice. If you find your WiFi connection is weak or it doesn’t seem to work well, you can restart the router to try and fix this issue. See this article if you’re iPhone 13 Cellular Data is not working.

You can also try switching to a different WiFi network. Go to Settings > Wi-Fi and try to connect to a different Wi-Fi network. If you do not have other known Wi-Fi, try enabling Personal Hotspot on your friend’s or family member’s phone, connect to it and see if you can send iMessage or not.

5. Restart your iPhone

At times, a simple reboot tends to fix some minor glitches. So, it would be wise to give your iPhone a fresh restart. This is a quick and reliable solution to fix several iPhone issues, including iMessage problems.

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 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. Check Apple’s System Status for iMessage

Whenever Apple’s system is experiencing an outage, most of its essential services and features, including iMessage, stops working. Therefore, make sure to check Apple’s system status for iMessage to find out whether or not it’s operating normally.

Visit Apple’s system status page. 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.

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 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 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

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. 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.

Resolve iMessage not working on iPhone 13

That’s pretty much it! I guess you must have finally resolved the iMessage not working issue on your iPhone 13. From what I can tell based on my experience, these tricks often fix the iMessage not working error on my iPhone 13. 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.