The iOS 13 update brings in a lot of new cool features that would make your iMessaging experience even better. However, things don’t always end up well after an update installation. Hence, you could end up facing a dilemma instead of leisure. Tackled in this post is a relevant issue with the iphone x iMessage that stopped working in iOS 13. Read on to find out what to do if you suddenly cannot send or receive iMessages on your iPhone X after installing the iOS 13 update.
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Troubleshooting an iPhone X iMessage that stopped working in iOS 13
iMessages can be sent between different Apple devices using wireless data. With that said, verify and ensure that your iPhone is connected to the Internet either through Wi-Fi or cellular/mobile data.
Also make sure that your date and time settings are set to automatic. Correct date and time information is also among the requisites to make real-time services like iMessage to work as intended. If you haven’t already, set your date and time to automatic. Doing so will prompt your device to use date and time information based on your location’s timezone. If you’ve met all these requisites but still cannot send or receive iMessages on your iPhone X in iOS 13, then it’s time to eliminate every possible culprit. You can try any of the following solutions if you need more inputs to troubleshoot the problem.
First solution: Turn iMessage off and on then restart your iPhone.
Minor issues affecting wireless features are usually remedied by turning Wi-Fi off for a few seconds then back on again. The same thing goes with other (binary) iOS features like iMessage. If your iPhone X iMessage was working perfectly fine then suddenly it stopped working after updating to iOS 13, then it could be just a minor glitch affecting the phone’s iMessage feature. Thus, toggling the iMessage button off and on will likely fix it. Here’s what you should do then:
- 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.
After enabling iMessage, create a sample message to send and receive as iMessage with your own email address or contact number as the recipient.
Second solution: Sign out and back into iMessage.
If the first solution failed to resolve the issue and iMessage is still not working on your iPhone X, rule out account-related errors by signing out and back into your iMessage account. Here’s how it’s done:
- From the Home screen, tap Settings.
- Select Messages.
- Scroll down to the Send & Receive section then tap to select the correct Apple ID that’s associated with your iMessages.
- Tap on the Apple ID then select the option to Sign Out.
- Stay on the same screen for about 30 seconds and then tap the option to Use your Apple ID for iMessages.
- Choose the option to Sign In to your iMessage account.
After signing back into iMessage, create a sample message to send and receive as iMessage on your device.
ALSO READ: How to fix an iPhone XS that can’t send/receive picture messages (MMS)
Third solution: Remove old and unnecessary iMessage conversations from your iPhone.
Sometimes, old messages can cause conflicts and may interfere with the normal process of sending and receiving of new messages. This is when deleting old messages is needed. Deleting old messages is also recommended, especially if your device is already running low on storage. Just follow these steps:
- Find and 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.
- Or, you can swipe left over a conversation to delete a single conversation and then tap Delete twice to confirm action.
After clearing out all old messages, restart or soft reset your iPhone and then try to see if iMessage is already working as intended.
Fourth solution: Reset network settings to fix your iPhone X iMessage that stopped working in iOS 13.
Network-related errors may also be the underlying cause of the problem. Your device might have succumbed to some sort of network connection errors after the recent iOS 13 update implementation and that thereby affected relevant network features, particularly iMessage. To clear this out, reset network settings on your iPhone X to erase any invalid network overrides and to restore the original network values. Doing so will let you configure your network settings and features as new. This doesn’t affect any saved data on the internal memory, so there’s no need to back up files. Just follow these steps if you wish to proceed:
- From your Home screen, tap Settings.
- Select General.
- Scroll down to and tap on Reset.
- Select Reset Network Settings from the given options.
- Enter your device passcode if prompted to continue.
- Then tap Reset Network Settings again to confirm that you want to reset network settings on your phone.
Allow your device to finish resetting and then restarts on its own. As soon as it’s finished rebooting, turn on Wi-Fi to reconnect to your Wi-Fi network, get back online, and use online services including iMessage.
ALSO READ: How to fix an iPhone XS that can’t send or receive emails through Mail app
Fifth solution: Factory reset your iPhone X.
Performing a master reset or wiping and restoring your iPhone X may be considered among the last options if none of the prior methods is able to fix the problem. There might be some complex system errors from the recent iOS update that eventually ruined your iPhone’s iMessage functions. In this case, wiping and restoring factory default settings on your iPhone X can help. Just be sure to back up files beforehand so you’d still be able to recover them after the reset. You can back up files from your iPhone to iCloud and then follow these steps to factory reset your device through settings:
- From the Home screen, tap Settings.
- Select General.
- Scroll down and tap on Reset.
- Select the option to Erase all content and settings. This will erase all customized options and new settings overrides from the recent update, including all saved information on the phone storage.
- Enter your device passcode if prompted to continue.
- Tap the option to Erase iPhone twice to confirm that you want to erase and restore factory default settings on your device.
After the reset, you can use the start-up wizard to set your iPhone up and configure necessary settings as new.
Don’t forget to enable iMessage and sign into your iMessage account to start sending and receiving iMessages on your iPhone X again.
Last resort: Restore your iPhone in recovery mode.
If you’ve managed to create a backup of your iPhone on your computer before you update its software to iOS 13, then you can restore from that back up and see if iMessage will work. This may be considered as a system downgrade but may still be the only way for you to be able to send and receive iMessages on your iPhone X again. To get this done, restore your iPhone X in iTunes via recovery mode. Be sure to use the same computer wherein your previous iOS backup was saved. Just follow these steps whenever you’re all set:
- Using the supplied USB/Lightning cable, connect your iPhone to the computer and then open iTunes on your computer. While your iPhone is connected, continue with these subsequent steps.
- Press and release the Volume up button quickly.
- Press and release the Volume down button quickly.
- Then press and hold the Side button until you see Recovery Mode on your phone. Do not release the Side button if you’ll see the Apple logo screen as you will need to enter recovery mode to restore your device.
- Once iTunes prompts you to Restore or Update, select Restore. This will allow iTunes to download the software for your device. Your phone will exit recovery mode if the download takes more than 15 minutes. If that happens, just repeat the steps to enter recovery mode again.
Follow the rest of the onscreen commands to finish restoring your iPhone from your previous backup. Once the restore process is complete, reboot or force restart your device to exit recovery mode.
ALSO READ: How to fix iPhone X Gmail app keeps crashing after iOS 13 update
Still troubled with your iPhone X iMessage that stopped working in iOS 13?
The problem may persist if it’s attributed to your service provider. To make sure that your account is still provisioned for iMessage service, contact your carrier. Otherwise, escalate the problem to Apple Support for further suggestions. This could also be an iOS 13 bug that requires a dedicated fix patch.
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