The annoying reason you’re struggling to set up your new iPhone or iPad – and it’s not your fault

IF YOU are one of the millions who received a new iPhone or iPad this Christmas, then you likely experienced some issues with set-up.

Every holiday season, so many Apple products get gifted that more than a few users have trouble activating their devices due to Apple’s servers getting overloaded.

Tens of millions of iPhones were gifted this Christmas.

The lags in the cloud don’t just affect activation, they also can slow down, and in some cases, completely interfere with iMessage and FaceTime log-in.

Last year, Apple even issued a statement on their website that addressed the issue.

The company wrote: “We are experiencing a high capacity at this time which is impacting your ability to set up iCloud, please try back in a couple of hours.”

In the instances where Apple has neither released a statement nor has their System Status page identified anything as dysfunctional, users can usually find complaints forums on Twitter and Reddit.

This year the issue persisted among many new users, though the number of complaints was lower than last year, according to 9to5Mac, a website that covers news on all things Mac.

One Twitter user by the handle of @krisjj78 tweeted on Christmas day: “Guys got a new iPhone today, ugh why’s my iMessage saying waiting for activation for like a few hours now?”

Twitter user @ME1223D also said that their new iPhone 12 was having so “many lag spikes.”

That user also mentioned that their phone was still having issues despite them restoring it to “before iOS beta.”

One Reddit user took it upon themselves to share some useful links with users who were having issues activating their iPhone.

“Apple’s activation servers get overloaded when everyone receives their new devices on Christmas, it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with your new device; just be patient :-),” the user wrote at the beginning of the post.

The user then linked to an Apple Support page that suggests restarting your device, connecting to a reliable Wi-Fi network, and waiting for a few minutes between trying to activate again.

And if those steps don’t work, then Apple recommends trying to activate your device on a computer via iTunes.

GettyA number of Apple devices face lags around Christmas time every year.[/caption]

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