Have you received a pop-up message on your iPhone saying “No SIM Card inserted” or “invalid SIM”?
You have inserted the SIM card in your iOS device but still, it is saying “no SIM card”.
You are very worried about it as now, you can’t make or receive important calls, send or receive text messages or use mobile data.
Don’t Worry! In this guide, you will learn some effective and working solutions that will help you to fix iPhone 13 “No SIM” or “Invalid SIM” error.
- Solution 1: Restart Your Phone
- Solution 2: Enable And Disable Airplane Mode
- Solution 3: Remove And Reinsert Your SIM Card Tray
- Solution 4: Ensure Carrier Plan Is Active
- Solution 5: Update Your iOS
- Solution 6: Update Your Carrier Settings
- Solution 7: Use Another SIM Card
- Solution 8: Reset Network Settings
- Solution 9: Check If You Have Network Coverage
- Solution 10: Check For eSIM Or Physical SIM Interferences
- Solution 11: Factory Reset Your iPhone
- Solution 12: Contact Apple Support
Before we go to the solutions to fix iPhone 13 not detecting SIM card issues, let’s first know why does your iPhone says No SIM or SIM error?
Reasons: Why iPhone 13 Says “No SIM” Or “Invalid SIM” Error
There are some possible reasons you may meet that can cause your iPhone to show no SIM card installed error.
Some of the reasons are mentioned below:
- System bugs or malfunction can cause your iPhone to show no SIM card error.
- If you do not place the SIM improperly in SIM’s tray.
- A glitch software update.
- When your SIM card is damaged.
So, whatever the reasons behind getting the error “Invalid SIM” or “NO SIM Card”, you can fix it by following the below solutions.
Also Read: How To Reset iPhone Without SIM Card
Solution 1: Restart Your Phone
The first solution you should follow to fix invalid SIM card issue is to restart the iPhone. This will fix all the bugs that were creating problems and hence you are facing no SIM card issue.
To restart your iPhone 13, you need to press and hold both Volume Down and Side buttons unless the Power Off slider appears on the screen. After that, drag the slider and then you need to wait for a few seconds to turn off your iPhone.
Now, turn on your iPhone and check the error is solved or not.
Solution 2: Enable And Disable Airplane Mode
You can also turn on and turn off airplane mode to fix SIM card not working issue on iPhone 13. What you have to do is, just go to the Quick Settings menu and from there tap on Airplane Mode icon to enable it. After a few minutes tap on it again to disable airplane mode.
Now, check the error is fixed or not.
Also Read: WiFi Button Greyed Out On iPhone/iPad? Here Is The Permanent Fix!
Solution 3: Remove And Reinsert Your SIM Card Tray
If the SIM card is not inserted properly or if the SIM card’s try is not perfectly set to its place then this can also cause iPhone SIM card failure issue.
In this case, you need to switch off your iPhone and then remove the iPhone SIM card with the help of the SIM tray ejector tool. Take the SIM tray ejector tool and insert it into the small hole beside the tray and apply gentle pressure. If you find difficulty in removing the tray then this indicates that the tray was inserted improperly.
When you take out the SIM card tray, check that there are no scratches and wipe it with a cotton or soft cloth. After that, insert the SIM card carefully in its tray and insert it into your iDevice.
Solution 4: Ensure Carrier Plan Is Active
You should ensure that you have an active carrier plan with your wireless carrier. To check this, you can open your carrier application or visit the website and log into your account to check. If the plane is expired then you need to renew it.
Solution 5: Update Your iOS
Another way to get rid of the error “NO SIM Card” is to update your iPhone iOS to its latest version. So, you can check the update for your iOS device and if there is any new update is available then update it.
To manually iOS update, you need to go to Settings > General > Software Update, and if you find a new update then tap on Download and install.
Note: Before you install the latest update for your iPhone 13 make sure that you have created a backup of your iPhone.
Also Read: iPhone Battery Draining Very Fast After iOS Update? Here What To Do?
Solution 6: Update Your Carrier Settings
Your carrier also releases updates in order to improve cellular connectivity on your network. If you don’t update your carrier settings then this will cause your SIM card to not work properly and it takes you away from the latest technology from your carrier provider.
You can manually check the update for your carrier settings update by connecting your iPhone to Wi-Fi and then go to Settings > General > About and then choose Update (if an update is available).
Solution 7: Use Another SIM Card
To make sure that there is not any problem with your SIM card, you can use another SIM card on your iPhone. Insert another SIMM card on your device and switch on the smartphone and see if it is showing the “Invalid SIM” or “No SIM Card” error.
If it is not showing any error then it indicates that there is some problem with your SIM card and now you need to replace the SIM card.
If it is still showing the issue on your iOS device then follow the next solution.
Solution 8: Reset Network Settings
You can also fix no SIM, invalid SIM, or SIM failure errors by resetting the network settings.
Remember that this will wipe Wi-Fi password and all the other settings. Hence, you should wire down any important password for future use.
Follow the below steps to reset the network settings of iPhone 13 to fix no SIM card installed and error message keeps popping up on iPhone.
Step 1: On your iPhone, open the Settings app.
Step 2: Then go to General > Transfer or reset iPhone.
Step 3: After that, tap on Reset > Reset Network Settings.
Step 4: When asked, enter the iPhone passcode and hit on Reset Network Settings again to confirm the process.
Also Read: Fixed: iPhone Fingerprint (Touch ID) Not Working After Update
Solution 9: Check If You Have Network Coverage
The antenna bands on smartphones have the ability to keep a steady connection in the most challenging areas. If an area is poor in network coverage then it will don’t allow you to call and text. It will also make your iDevice from being activated.
Check your coverage area by looking at cellular tower bands at the top left corner of the screen. If the network bar is not stable then you should move to an area with better network coverage and then try again.
Solution 10: Check For eSIM Or Physical SIM Interferences
If you are receiving “Last Line No Longer Available” error on your dual-SIM iPhone 13 then there is a high possibility that there is a conflict between physical SIM and eSIM. When this happens then the network drops and you can’t make calls using that number.
Solution 11: Factory Reset Your iPhone
You can factory reset your iPhone to fix no SIM card installed error on iPhone 13. We suggest you to use this method only when all solutions fail.
Note: Please create a backup of your iPhone data before doing a factory reset.
Now, follow the below steps to factory reset your iPhone.
Step 1: On your iPhone, tap on Settings icon.
Step 2: Then hit on General.
Step 3: After that, tap on Reset and then on “Erase All Content and Settings” option. Confirm the process by allowing Apple to reset your iPhone.
Also Read: Backup And Restore iPhone 13/13 Pro (Max)/13 mini
Solution 12: Contact Apple Support
If you still see an alert of an invalid SIM card then you should contact Apple Support. You can contact them online you can visit the Apple Service center.
Wrap Up
I hope the above solutions were able to fix iPhone 13 “No SIM” or “Invalid SIM” error. Try the solution one by one that matches to your problem. And at last, when all solutions fail then contact Apple.

Max Field
Max Field is a founder of recoveriphone-data.com. He is an iOS lover and loves to write tips, tricks, fixes for errors, data recovery solutions and more related to iOS, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, iTunes and iCloud.