How to fix iPhone 8 iMessage that stops working, unable to send/receive iMessage after an iOS update [Troubleshooting Guide]

Wondering why iMessage suddenly stopped working on your iPhone 8? Read on to find why and how to fix this problem.

With iMessage, you can send unlimited text, photos, videos, locations, and contacts from your iOS device using Wi-Fi or cellular data. To get started in using the service, you’ll need to set up iMessage on your iOS device. But just like any other Apple services, iMessage also experience issues and downtimes. Aside from Apple server errors, network connectivity problems and software glitches are also among the underlying causes that can cause iMessage to fail or stop working on your device. There are also some cases wherein faulty updates and software crashes from firmware transitions are to blame.

This post in particular, demonstrates applicable workarounds and potential solutions to a post-update problem with iMessage on an iPhone 8. Read on for more details.

Before going further, if you found this post because you were trying to find a solution to your problem, then try to visit our troubleshooting page as we’ve already addressed most of the commonly reported issues with the phone. We’ve already provided solutions to some of the problems reported by our readers so try to find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work for you and if you need further assistance, fill up our iOS problems questionnaire and hit submit.

How to troubleshoot iPhone 8 with iMessage that stopped working

Before you begin to troubleshoot, check the iMessage service status from the Apple support website and make sure it’s available. The service may be temporarily unavailable due to an ongoing system maintenance or service outage. If the iMessage indicator appears green, it means that the service is available. Otherwise, the service indicator is gray.

Also make sure that your iPhone is connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data network. iMessages can be sent either through Wi-Fi or cellular network, so make sure that your iPhone has Internet or data connection. If you’re relying on cellular data for iMessage, make sure you have ample of data allowance in your account.

Your iPhone must be connected to a 3G or 4G network too. Another thing to check is the date and time settings on your iPhone. Other people who have had troubles sending or receiving iMessages later found out that the date and time settings on their iOS device were incorrect. Once you have all these double-checked and the problem persists, try the following solutions.

First solution: Quit then restart the messaging app.

It’s possible that the messaging app is just glitching after the recent system change and therefore it isn’t working properly. As a result, your device cannot send or receive iMessage. To clear this out, clearing the app may help. Here’s how:

Press the Home button twice quickly. Doing so will open a new screen containing a list of all recently used apps. These apps are still open and running in the background.
Find the Messages app preview and then swipe up on it.

After a few seconds, open the app and then create a sample iMessage to send and receive. Continue troubleshooting if iMessage sending and receiving still failed.

Second solution: Restart your iPhone 8 (soft reset).

Turning your iPhone off and on again can help fix minor software errors including those that are caused by faulty updates. A device restart or soft reset clears cache and data from the internal memory and refreshes system functions without affecting saved data and personal information. If you haven’t yet restarted your iPhone, then do so with these steps:

Press and hold the Side/Power button until the Slide to Power Off command appears.
Drag the slider to the right to turn your iPhone completely off.
After 30 seconds, press and hold the Power button until the Apple logo appears and then release.

Allow your device to boot up completely and then retry using iMessage service to see if the problem is fixed.

Third solution: Disable iMessage then enable it again on your iPhone 8.

Another simple way of fixing minor errors with iMessage is to turn the service off and back on. This trick somehow clears software glitches the new update might had inflicted and then refresh the iPhone’s messaging functions. To give this a try, follow these steps:

Navigate to Settings from the Home screen.
Tap Messages.
Scroll to and tap the iMessage switch to turn it off shortly and then tap the switch again to turn iMessage back on.

Create a sample message then try sending it as iMessage with your own number or email address as the recipient. If the message is successfully sent and you’re able to receive it, then the problem is solved. Otherwise, continue to troubleshoot.

Fourth solution: Delete old and unnecessary messages and attachments.

It’s possible that your message inbox is almost full or has already exceeded the maximum limit and so, you’re no longer able to send or receive new messages. To make sure this isn’t the underlying cause, delete all unwanted and old messages and file attachments from your iPhone 8. Here’s how:

Open a message conversation.
Touch and hold the message bubble that you want to delete.
Tap More.
Then tap the trash icon.
Select the option to Delete Message.
If you want to delete all messages in a thread, tap Delete All on the upper-left corner instead.
To confirm deletion of selected message(s), tap Delete Conversation.
Alternatively, you can swipe left over a conversation to delete a single conversation and then tap Delete twice to confirm action.

Also delete unnecessary messages or conversations with attachments. The attached files might have contained some bugs or any sort of malicious software that could trigger iMessage to go rogue or stop working. Here’s how it’s done:

Open the conversation.
Tap the blue “i” or information icon in the upper-right corner.
Navigate to Images and Attachments section.
Touch and hold the image or attachment to view options.
Select the option to Delete.

Restart your iPhone again to dump cache from the memory and then retry sending and receiving iMessages.

Fifth solution: Reset all settings to fix iMessage that stopped working on your iPhone 8.

The new update might have overridden your current settings and eventually resulted to some conflicts with iMessage. As resolution, you can try resetting all settings on your iPhone 8 to delete the current system settings and restore the original/default values. Here’s how it’s done:

From the Home screen, navigate to Settings-> General-> Reset menu.
Tap Reset All Settings from the given option.
If prompted, enter the correct passcode for your device.
Then tap the option to confirm settings reset on your iPhone 8.

After the reset, your iPhone should restart by itself. By then you can set up your device according to your previous preferences. Don’t forget to reconnect to Wi-Fi or enable cellular data to use network-related services including iMessage on your iPhone 8.

Seek more help

For other options and recommendations, contact your network service provider/carrier. Verify and ensure that iMessage service is supported and active in your current account plan. If you’ve been using iMessage service on your iPhone 8 without bumping into a problem until you implemented the latest iOS update, you can reach out to Apple Support to report the issue so they can further assess the error and determine whether or not it’s a post-update issue that needs a fix patch.

Connect with us

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