If you’ve updated to iOS 26, you might be familiar with this experience. You’re having a back-and-forth conversation with your friend over iMessage, when suddenly there’s a lull and your blue bubbles are now green. Or now all your messages are regular SMS, you can’t see typing indicators, and your read receipts are gone.
Sure, you can continue the conversation over SMS, but iMessage has significant advantages. iMessages, which can only be done between Apple devices, are end-to-end encrypted, plus they have special features such as Tapbacks, Live Stickers, text effects and more. iMessages support links, high resolution images, delivery and read receipts plus typing indicators. So what do you do if iMessage is not working on your iPhone after iOS 26 update? Here are a few steps that might resolve the problem.
Make sure iMessage is turned on
If your iMessage is not working after iOS 26 update, first make sure your iMessage service is turned on. Go to your iPhone’s Settings, then select Apps. Scroll down to Messages and select it. On this page, make sure that iMessage is enabled. If it’s not, select it to turn it on.
Make sure iMessage is set up with your phone number and Apple Account
iMessage works not just with your phone number but with your primary Apple account email address as well as any email addresses that you have associated with your Apple account. This way, you can send and receive iMessages across your Apple devices. If iMessage isn’t working on your iPhone after iOS 26 update, try making sure it’s set up with your current number and Apple account email address.
To do so, go to Settings, then Apps, then Messages. Then select Send & Receive. There, you’ll see a list of numbers and email addresses under the heading "You can receive iMessages to and reply from." You can then select which ones you want to use with iMessage.
If your preferred email address or number isn’t listed, you’ll have to add them to your Apple account first. Here are the steps to do so: From Settings, select your Apple account name at the top, then select Sign-In & Security. Then you can select Add Email or Phone Number and follow the steps to add them to your Apple account.
Disable unknown sender screening
This new option automatically moves messages from unknown senders to the Unknown Senders folder, and hides notifications for them until you accept them. The app can also detect spam and move it to a new Spam folder, with notifications for these messages also hidden.
From the main Messages screen, tap a new filter control in the upper right corner, select Manage Filtering from the menu that appears. That takes you to the Message section of Settings where you can turn off a slider to screen unknown senders.
Make sure your iPhone has a working internet connection
iMessage requires a data connection, whether it’s from Wi-Fi or cellular data. So if your iMessage connection isn’t working, you could have an issue with your data signal that leads to your iPhone falling back to SMS as a failsafe.
You can check if your iPhone is actually connected to the internet by trying to open a web page in Safari. If the website doesn’t load or Safari says you’re not connected to the internet, your iMessages won’t send either.
Hint: If the internet isn’t working on your iPhone, you might be connected to a Wi-Fi network that doesn’t have a good internet connection. Try turning off Wi-Fi and resending your iMessage. If that works, the problem was with Wi-Fi, not with iMessage.
Check For An iOS Update
Go to Settings > General > Software Update and check to see if there is a new iOS 26 update for your iPhone. There’s a chance Apple has already pushed out an update to address iMessage issues you are experiencing.
Restart your iPhone
Sometimes,, all you need to do is power off your phone and then turn it on again. That could be enough to reset any data connections and clear any potential glitches that are preventing your iMessages chat communications.
On the iPhone 11 and newer models, hold down the sleep/wake button and either one of the volume buttons and then swipe right on the power slider to turn off the device. Wait until it fully turns off, then press down on the sleep/wake button to turn it back on.
If your iPhone has a home button, hold down the sleep/wake button until the power slider is displayed and then drag the slider to the right. Once the device is turned off, press and hold the sleep/wake button until you see the Apple logo.
Turn iMessage Off, Reboot, And Then Back On
Go to Settings > Apps > Messages and tap the button next to iMessage to turn iMessage off on your iPhone. Next, restart your iPhone by turning it off and back on. Go back to Settings > Apps > Messages, and turn iMessage back on. This simple fix works a lot of the time, however, when activating iMessage, you might see one of these messages:
- Waiting for activation
- Activation unsuccessful
- An error occurred during activation
- Could not sign in, please check your network connection
- Unable to contact the iMessage server. Try again.
If you experience any of those errors why trying to activate iMessage, here’s what you can do:
- Make sure that you’re connected to a cellular data or Wi-Fi network.
- Make sure that your iPhone has the latest version of iOS 26.
- Make sure that your time zone is set correctly. Go to Settings > General > Date & Time.
- You need SMS messaging to activate your phone number with iMessage. Depending on your carrier, you might be charged for this SMS.
- If a prompt appears stating "Your network provider may charge for SMS messages used to activate FaceTime and iMessage", tap "Turn On" to allow possible SMS charges.
If your phone number still doesn’t have a check next to it in Settings after 24 hours:
- It might take up to 24 hours for your carrier to verify your phone number with Apple. Contact your carrier to make sure that you can send and receive SMS messages and wait up to 24 hours after you try the troubleshooting steps above.
- If iMessage is on and a spinning gear appears next to your phone number, your device automatically attempts to verify your phone number. There is no need to repeatedly turn iMessage off and on.
Use an email address to sign in to Messages instead.
What if these don’t work?
Perhaps the person you’re trying to reach has their iMessage ability turned off. In which case, you can try instructing them how to make sure their iMessage is enabled.
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