A a nasty bug walking around affects iPhone users, which can lead to accidental deactivation of iMessage and FaceTime without the ability to re-enable them.
The news comes from various Twitter users, including renowned Apple leader and Bloomberg reporter Mark Gourmet, all of whom have detailed their experiences with the bug. So far, this problem is limited to users of T-Mobile and Verizon. At first this may seem like good news if the problem is limited to just two networks.
However, Verizon and T-Mobile have the widest service networks in the United States, and with more 113 million iPhone users in the US this can be a serious problem.
Problem with eSIM
The problem especially affects the eSIM chip 9 to 5 Mac. The eSIM chip allows people to set up and activate their phones online using software without having to use a physical SIM card or visit an operator’s store. And if you don’t remember, a SIM card is something that allows your smartphone to make calls, send text messages and connect to the Internet over a cellular network.
The purpose of the eSIM chip is to make it easier to set up the iPhone. Unfortunately, no one knows exactly what is going on inside the eSIM chip that is causing the problem. According to Gourmet, this bug has been around for some time. This affects the performance of the phones iOS 15.4, 15.5and 15.6 beta 1.
Both Verizon and T-Mobile seem to be aware of the mistake, as several people in this Twitter chain, including Gourmet, have turned to their operators for help. So far Apple has not acknowledged the error, let alone fix the fix.
Solutions
Gourmet says the only solution is to insert a proprietary physical SIM card into the iPhone to work around the error.
You can also delete your eSIM account and get a new reissue on your iPhone. But Gourmet does not advise this because the process is too “complicated for most people and doesn’t need to be done”.
One person describes his experience of relaunching eSIM through T-Mobile. According to the user, T-Mobile had to republish eSIM three times, and it took 30 minutes to activate the latter. But then it caused additional problems with the line and required a re-call to the operator.
It is unknown when or when Apple will fix this issue. TechRadar has contacted Apple and Verizon and updated this story with their responses.
https://www.techradar.com/news/nasty-apple-bug-reportedly-killing-facetime-on-iphones/
