RCS waiting activation after upgrading to iPhone 16 Pro Max

go to your messages and turn off rcs 2 times and then turn it back on , go to your number erase it ! then all the rcs messages will show ! thank me later peace !!!!✌🏾🤝🏾🙏🏾

i transferred from Verizon to ATT and upgraded to an iPhone 16. I never got any RCS messaging or calls. I called today and the technician said that my number wasn’t ported when I changed services (which was ATT fault) he had to create a profile for me and then finishing the porting. If you transferred carriers I would call and see if your number wasn’t ported properly ported. They say my phone should work in 2-3 hours crossing fingers !

Did you have this resolved? I am having the exact same issue.

acahir93 wrote:

Unfortunately I don’t have that.. I have even tried factory resetting my phone and not restoring it just to see and still nothing I’m stuck I don’t know what else to do

If you’ve done all that it’s a carrier problem. Call support and ask to be escalated to a senior tech.

Go to Settings/Apps/Messages and make sure RCS Messaging is turned on. After that, it’s up to your carrier. Be sure you have Cellular Data enabled.

Perhaps a long shot:

Do you have a 3rd party VPN installed, even if you are not using it? If so, delete the VPN profile in Settings/General/VPN & Device Management/VPN. Don't just turn it off; delete the profile. If that fixes it, you can try reinstalling VPN. However, VPN actually reduces your privacy, it does not enhance it.

Switching back to your old phone solved the issue? My phone experienced this issue when we changed phone plans. We just switched to a new phone (14 Pro to 16 Pro Max) hoping that would fix it and still no luck. Cannot send/receive texts on either device.

Want to post this incase it helps someone! Verizon did all the trouble shooting they could and finally gave me a phone replacement. After 3 weeks of no RCS I finally have it again.. this is iPhone 16 pro max, replacement is the same phone .

So I say that it’s the phone itself that is somehow having issues with the compatibility. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Quick fix.

Disable your hotspot if it was already on. Then go to Settings, Cellular, and the section listed as My Carrier and my phone number. It doesn't matter which carrier you have, the process is the same. Deactivate "Turn on this line."

This unregisters your phone number from your carriers network. If you're prompted to connect to Wi-Fi, hit back or cancel and go back into the same settings screen again.

Then reregister your phone number by reactivating "Turn On This Line and select the proper phone number.

Of course verify the correct phone number is listed. If not call the carrier.

This should fix it. Good luck 🤞

This is the exact same thing that happened to me. You are correct, transferring carriers is the issue. Like mentioned my number wasn't ported correctly and I had to call to have them "PUSH" my port through and do some tech stuff on their end. They set the expectation after the port was pushed through it would take a few hours. I took approximately 30 mins for me for RCS to remove the "Waiting for Activation" and started working properly. Hope this helps too

Not OP, but i switched to an iphone 12 and its working, iphone 16 pro max is not, This started after an update i think on March 11th.