i am trying to activate an old phone to use just for wifi and it wont let me activate without doing an update

Hey there lyna98,

Thanks for asking the Apple Support Communities about your iPhone requiring an update.

Please verify if you see this alert: If you see a Cellular, Ultra Wideband, or Apple Pay Issue message after an iOS update or restart - Apple Support

If you do, try the troubleshooting included: "If you want to try more steps on your own"

If it is not that alert, please try the troubleshooting here: If you can't activate your iPhone or iPad (Wi-Fi + Cellular)

Please keep in mind that one of the listed steps would be to update your iPhone. You can try using recovery mode to update as long as the alert does not match the alert in the first article provided: If you can't update or restore your iPhone or iPod touch - Apple Support

Please ensure you read the first article completely. If you have that alert, restoring the device can cause issues where it needs to be serviced.

If it is that first article alert, and the steps in the article did not help, please set up Other Repair for your iPhone: iPhone Repair & Service - Apple Support

Or contact Apple Support for more help: Get Support

Cheers!

What model number of iPhone is this? If it is obsolete.....as I suspect....you can't update the phone. And without the update, you can't activate the phone.....even if you only want to use if for Wi-Fi.

Likely, a classic Catch 22 situation, but we'll see.