iMessage not working with new Apple ID on both 2019 MBA and 2022 iPhone SE

[Ubele]

I’m not sure where to post this, because it’s happening on two different devices. I just set up a 2019 MacBook Air and a refurbished 2022 iPhone SE with a new Apple ID to serve as travel devices for some international travel my wife and I will be doing. The devices will have minimal personal information. I erased and reset both devices with the most recent OS versions they support, and I installed a variety of apps that I use. Everything is working fine, except for iMessage. On my MBA, it asks me to sign in with my Apple ID. When I do, a new message opens. When I click in the TO: field, it crashes and asks me to sign in again. On my iPhone, I can type a new message, but when I hit Send, it eventually says “Message failed to send.” If I go to Settings > Apps > Messages, it has my new Apple ID in the field, but I’m unable to back up one level to see the other settings for the app. Eventually, it asks if I want to sign in with another Apple ID. On both my MBA and iPhone, if I sign in with my regular Apple ID (just for iMessage, not for iCloud or anything else), iMessage works fine. I’ve tried the usual recommendations: reboot devices, sign out of iCloud and sign back in, etc.

I set up an identical refurbished 2022 iPhone SE and a new 2025 iPad for my wife for travel purposes, using a new Apple ID. iMessage works fine for her on both devices, using her new Apple ID.

Any ideas? I’ve tried every suggestion on Google. I suppose I could erase and reset my MBA and iPhone SE and create a new Apple ID.

 

[Ruggy]

You do have a SIM card in the phone?
I suppose you do have icloud on the new Apple ID?
Have you tried going to https://account.apple.com/
log in with the new Apple ID, and verify: Email and phone number are confirmed No alerts or blocks on the account

Also something that's got me in the past. Got to settings and find the 'messages' app, then 'send and receive' and just check your phone number is ticked.
Sorry if you've already done all that it's all I've got

 

[Ubele]

Thanks, Ruggy:

When I first set up the iPhone SE, a phone number I didn't recognize appeared in the iMessage settings. I couldn't do anything in the settings, though - it just hung there. It turned out that there was a deactivated Verizon SIM in the phone. I removed it, erased and reset the phone, and started from scratch. I still can't do anything in iMessage settings, though.

I created a new Apple ID for my MBA and iPhone. If it makes any difference, I created it on the MBA before I got the iPhone. I didn't test iMessage before I set up the phone, though, so I don't know if the problem already existed.

I can log into iCloud with my new Apple ID on my primary computer (MacBook Pro, which is set up with a different Apple ID) via Safari. There are no blocks or alerts on my account. I was able to add email addresses. When I tried to add my phone number, it wouldn't let me: "This phone number is already in use with another account." It's true: that's the number of my iPhone 14 Pro Max, which is set up with my primary Apple ID. Since my iPhone SE will be used for international travel, I plan to use prepaid SIMs.

Oddly, though, in my new Apple ID security settings, my phone number is a trusted phone number. My MBA is a trusted device. There's no option to add another trusted device. The only way I was able to log into my new Apple ID settings was to request a 9-digit security code sent to my iPhone 14 (where iMessage is set to my primary Apple ID). Requesting the code from my MBA doesn't work because I can't activate iMessage there, either.

I can sign into iMessage on my MBA and iPhone SE with my primary Apple ID. The reason I created a separate Apple ID for those devices is due to an overabundance of caution, what with devices being randomly seized at customs. I have nothing incriminating on my primary account, but my political beliefs aren't aligned with our current administration, and there's a lot of advice out there saying it's a good idea to use burner devices.

iMessage is the only thing that's giving me problems with my new Apple ID. I set up an iPad and an iPhone SE with a new Apple ID for my wife, and iMessage works just fine for her.

 

[Ruggy]

I think the answer to your problem is there, 'This phone number is already in use with another account."
You aren't going to be able to use imessage if you don't have a phone number linked to it.
It's not going to work on two phones. That's the whole point of two factor authorisation- it's linked to a specific phone.
And the imessage on the mac is linked to a phone and the phone number too and won't work by itself.
I don't know what you've done exactly with your wife's set up but I presume she's not getting that message.
I understand you wanting to use it for international travel but in my opinion, it needs its own SIM and a number.

 

[Ubele]

Ruggy, before you replied, I gave up, and I erased and reset my iPhone SE with a new Apple ID. I used the phone number of my iPhone 14 Pro Max where a phone number was required for two-factor authentication. iMessage works fine now. The only thing I can think of is that the iPhone SE, when I first set it up, had a deactivated SIM card with an associated phone number. (It's a used, refurbished 3rd-gen SE that I got from Amazon for $155 -- an amazing deal!)

My plan for when I travel is to have a prepaid SIM card from a US carrier before I leave, swap it out for a prepaid SIM card in the destination country when I arrive, and swap it out for the US card when I return home. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do that. The iPhone SE has two eSIMS and a physical SIM card slot. I just don't want to have to pay for full-time separate phone lines when I'm not traveling.

 

[Ruggy]

Sorry I was too late and I've just thought of something and I don't know why I didn't think of it before but it's the solution to your problem.
When you are abroad using an e-sim you won't be able to use imessage on that number either- I've done it many times.
But what you can do is forget about using a number altogether and use imessage with an email address.
You will need to have to register the email so in settings under the section with your name and photo at the top, you go to 'sign in and security' find 'contactable at' add the number and Apple will send you a 6 figure code which you enter when prompted to. You need to be signed into an Apple account
Then you go into the message app settings and under 'send and receive' add the mail address and check the 'start new conversations from'
Just make sure you tell everyone to send messages to that email and you are good to go.
It'll work with imessage exactly as it does with the phone, no need for a full time phone line but only on wifi of course
Abroad telephone numbers have limited use because the calls are horrifically expensive. My wife is in Australia at the moment so I'm well aware of this even though she took an Optus e-sim and by the way, Holafly are excellent in any country you go to pretty much. Their customer service is excellent too
So it's very useful to use Whatsapp or something similar. Most people use Whatsapp in my experience and that you can use it over 4G and you can make a call and a video call on it. That allows you to be in touch when you are away from wifi. We pretty much only use Whatsapp when abroad
The prepaid sim in the country is an excellent idea especially if you are going to be there for two weeks. Do some research first though as there are scams but otherwise if you know what you are doing, you will be able to get one at the airport.
But otherwise, check out Holafly from where you are. You can book an e-sim from your chair and it activates when you arrive in the country, they work well and they are very competitive but not as cheap as a local sim card if it's more than a few days but for 3 or 5 it's a good solution- only data though no telephone calls
I hope this will be useful and enjoy your trip.

 

[Ubele]

Thanks, Ruggy — I really appreciate your help! I’ll be going to Mexico for a couple weeks this fall, and I’ve heard that most people there use WhatsApp. Since my WhatsApp number is the same as my phone number, I’d assumed it was tied to my phone — but I didn’t think it through enough, since I’m able to use it on my iPad and MBP, as well.

However, I’m still having problems with my 2019 Intel MacBook Air, which is on the latest version of the last version of macOS it supports (Sonoma). With what I’ll call erase-and-reset-with-a-new-Apple-ID-attempt-#1 (ER1), everything worked fine on my MBA (including my apps 1Password and NordVPN, which installed with no problems), except for iMessage. When I did ER2 with a second new Apple ID on my iPhone SE and it fixed everything, I did the same on my MBA: a complete erase-and-reinstall with new Apple ID #2. When I tried to install NordVPN, it asked for my NordVPN Keychain password, which it didn’t do after ER1. I had no idea what that was, so I cancelled and consulted Nord’s help site. They said it’s an error that sometimes occurs, but none of the fixes worked. So I moved on and tested iMessage. It opened, and I was able to compose a message. Unfortunately, I couldn’t send it. It turned out that iMessage said I didn’t have an Internet connection. Neither did Safari, Mail, and so on. I checked Settings. It said I was connected to my WiFi network. I deleted NordVPN. Internet connectivity returned. I tried to open iMessage. It asked me to sign in with my Apple ID. I did so with my new Apple ID #2. It opened, allowed me to click in the TO: field, crashed, and asked me to sign in again. This was the same loop I was in after ER1. Frustrated, I moved on to 1Password. I downloaded the installer. When I tried to run it, it said there was an unexpected error, and it couldn’t find the required URL. This didn’t happen after ER1. I rebooted. I signed out of my Apple ID and signed back in. I reset the NVRAM/PRAM. I tried all the suggested fixes for iMessage, NordVPN, and 1Password. Nothing works.

So I have to wonder: Are my woes due to current versions of apps not being entirely compatible with Sonoma? I had no issues setting up my wife’s 3rd-gen iPhone SE (the same as mine) and 2025 standard iPad with all the same apps. I have an engineering degree, have worked with computers since the early 1980s, and worked in tech support and as a tech writer for over 15 years. I’ve never had this many problems with anything in the Apple ecosystem. However, I’ve never kept an Apple device once it became old enough that it no longer supported the most recent OS.

 

[Ubele]

Hmm… I just took a photo on my iPhone SE to test the camera quality, and I tried to iMessage the photo to my main phone number, but it said it was unable to connect. I was able to do this after I did the ER2 on my iPhone SE but before I did the ER2 on my MBA, so why did it work then but not now? So I tried to send the photo via Apple Mail to my primary email address. That worked. I’m so confused. (The photo, which was taken in good light, looks great.)

 

[Ubele]

I’ve given up on the MBA. My wife says she’s fine with just her iPhone SE during our travels, because she’s barely used her 2017 iPad since she got it. At home, she does everything on her 2015 iPhone Pro Max, except when she needs the bigger screen of her iMac. So I reconfigured the 2025 iPad for myself, with the same Apple ID as my iPhone SE.