Question about issues with Apple ID, FaceTime and iMessage after swapping SIM

By David Lai, 13 August, 2018

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi all!
I went to the US for a few weeks this summer, but now I'm back in China. Before I went to the States, I bought a 30-day plan with a phone number, should anyone needed to contact me there. Now, the number is out of service, and I thought I could just leave the sim card on like before, when I had a Chinese number that has gone completely out of service. However, I was informed by Apple officially that my Apple ID password needed to be changed, and after I did that, both FaceTime and iMessage stopped working.
Now I don't know what to do. I didn't bring my former sim card with me from Beijing to Hangzhou, and it'll be another two weeks before returning to Beijing and get that used sim card. Do I need to deactivate this particular number? If so, what about facetime and iMessage? I'm puzzled and worried. What shall I do?
Note, I don't plan to have a number in the future, but I still want my iMessage. I hope I'm expressing myself clearly with this. Thanks for your help!

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Comments

By Boxer1 on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 10:44

I would contact Apple and explain this problem to them like you just did. They could probably get it sorted out for you.

By David Lai on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 10:44

Hi! I've never contacted Apple to sort these things out before, so I'm kind of worried if this may make things more difficult. If you think that it may not be the case, then could you please tell me how to reach out to Apple, if you don't mind? Many thanks for your help!

By David Lai on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 10:44

As I looked at my iMessage settings, I found my now already-out-of-service US phone number still listed as one of the ways people could reach my by iMessage, and there's no way to delete this number. I think if I could do that and only leave my apple ID (which is my email), it wouldn't have bothered me this much. But I don't know how to do it. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thank you very much!

By MarkSarch on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 10:44

Hi David
might not to important but first see whats the region set to your apple ID?
and here some link where you can deactivate the phone number
https://selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage/
also from an iOS device only going to settings// iMessage and turning off and same for the faceTime will remove the number when you decide turning on again.

By David Lai on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 10:44

This looks really good! I tried entering my ultra number in order to get a confirmation code. However, I didn't receive any text message, because the service has been suspended already. I only have this phone as my connected device. So how do I remove my number, but still have iMessage? I will need the service for my friends, so Apple ID still has to work. Many thanks for your help!