iMessage is giving "This email address is already in used" message in iOS 5

I have got iOS 5 recently and the problem I have started facing is that when I am trying to set I message on the ipad and then when I log in to the AppleID and when I enter the former mobile me email address as the email address the I am getting a message which says "Unable to verify email because it is already in use". I have tried setting up the iMessage for the first time so I am not that aware of all the settings. Is there anyone who has an idea about the same and can help me out? Any suggestion regarding this will be appreciated.

Even I am facing the same kind of problem. I had first log on to the Apple site and then after login I went in to the manager id section and there I was able to see the email addresses which was linked to my id but when I entered the same id then I was getting the same error that you have described.I am having two Apple ID’s for the iMessage one for the iphone and the other for the ipad. The iphone works well with the iphone but when I send a message with the iPad then I have seen that the "send bar" freezes by the end and the message sending fails and when I send message from the iPhone to iPad then it won’t receive the message and when I send message for the iPad to the iPhone it receives the message I don’t know what’s wrong. Is there anyone who has faced the same problem? Any help will be appreciated.

I am having the same problem and I have tried following your suggestion where you said to enter the email addresses which is linked to my id in the "manage your ID" section but what I have found is that my iCloud AppleID is not having the email address registered to it and the email id you are talking about is registered to my Apple STORE ID and when I deleted it form the store id and then later when i tried to add it to the iCloud ID then also I am getting a message saying that the email id is registered to another account and no I ,ma not able to add the id back to the store id because it gives me the same message again.

I have the same kind of problem and even I am having 2 IDs one for the iCloud and the other for the 1 iTunes and I have found that My @me.com account is not verified and when I try to logon and try to register it then I get a message that the email id is linked to some other account but then it is not the same with the other Apple ID account. I have to contact the Apple support a no of times but then I have not yet got a response from them and no I don’t have any more idea to verify this account. Any help will be appreciated.

I am experiencing the same problem I have also tried to set the same AppleID on both the devices as well and this has helped me with the iPhone iMessage but not with the iPad. I have read in a forum that logging out of iMessage and logging on with the AppleID is solving the problem but when I tried to the same I was getting the same message. I have tried all the possible solution that I could have but none of them seems to be helping and I have been trying to contact the Apple support but then I don’t think that they hardly care to help. Is there any other solution for this?

I have somehow solved the problem and I will like to share it with you all. Actually I am accustomed to the apple id@domain for the iTune store and I was getting the same message when it was asking me for the apple id. Later I entered the apple id and password in the first screen and then dropped the @domain part and then I entered the apple id@domain in the second screen and then I dint know how it worked for me. I don’t think that this perfect solution but then I was able to solve my problem by this method. If you want you can try to solve it out. Best of luck.

I will like to inform you that when if you are using the [name]@mac.com then I will suggest you to use the [name]@me.com because what I have founds is that if you use the @mac.com or the @me.com then they both will go to the same place. I was having the same kind of error and what I had done is that I had entered the @mac.com on the iMessage setting and I was getting the same error and then when I entered the @me.com then I think that I was not verified but then I was able to solve my problem. Just check it out and see if it works for you.

As far as I know they have the same functionality being Apple ID's and email addresses but then when you use a specific address in order to use it as contact method for FaceTime and for the iMessage then I think that you can’t change it. Even If you try change the FaceTime and use name@mac.com in order to connect then even it will not work if in case they have only specified name@me.com as the way to do so and this same procedure is followed for FaceTime and for the iMessage as well.

I don’t agree to you because as far as I know it works if you are using different Apple ID’s and I will also like to inform you that Apple ID name@me.com is basically string of characters and it does not know that it is a email address and it also has primary contact email address which could be name@me.com as well as name@comcast.net and so when you don’t use @me and you only use “name” then you are using different apple id and which has a different associated primary email address as well.Hope you got my point

You can follow the below solution:

• First go to the appleid.apple.com and then change the first letter of the primary e-mail's to a capital one and then just verify it and then save the changes that you have made
• Then wait for some minutes and after that just logon to the appleid.apple.com and then try to change it again and this time you won’t get any kind of error message

Just check it out if it works for you if not then let me know so I can help you out with other solution.

I have a bit different kind of situation but then I was able to solve it .Actually I am having Original Apple ID for purchases @gmail.com and @me.com for home sharing. I had tried to setup @me.com for the iMessage and it was working fine but when I had tried to on iPad then I was getting then same message saying that "this email address is already in use" and later when I removed the @gmail.com then I was allowed to add my @me.com and now I am signed in to Store with the @gmail.com without any further problem. Just try it out and see if it help you all as well.