Turning iPhone 3 into iPod toouch

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Turning iPhone 3 into iPod toouch

Have an old iphone 3 that I want to give to daughter for an ipod touch. Turn it on and it tries to activate, but is never able to. Same result with or without the sim card. Same trying from the phone or plugged into mac using iTunes. Says the activation server is temporarily unavailable.

Since it won't activate, I can't do a think with it in iTunes, like restore or upgrade.

Is there a simple way to fix this. Not worth it to have Apple repair it.

iPhone 3GS, iOS 4.3.3

Posted on Jan 31, 2013 3:24 PM

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Answer 1

Brij011

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Jan 31, 2013 3:28 PM in response to FatMac84

Obvious question, is the sim you've tried to use still active?

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Answer 2

FatMac84 Author

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Jan 31, 2013 3:35 PM in response to Brij011

No. That's why I tried it first without the sim, thinking it would be easy to make it an ipod touch.

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Answer 3

Brij011

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Jan 31, 2013 3:50 PM in response to FatMac84

Then I think that's the problem. I'd get the cheapest pay as you go sim you can and then try. Also, if you were on a contract the phone may be locked to that providor; if so you'll have to get a sim from them or pay for the phone to be unlocked.

If you get a pay as you go sim, even if your daughter runs the credit down to zero, the phone will still work as an iPod.

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Answer 4

FatMac84 Author

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Jan 31, 2013 3:51 PM in response to Brij011

I went back to ATT thinking that might solve it. They put a new sim in but still could not activate. According to the support articles, the iphone acts like the touch when the sim is removed.

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Answer 5

Jan 31, 2013 3:58 PM in response to FatMac84

What version of software do you have on it? You should be able to circumvent the activation by using a sim, or any sim card that will fit, and is activated. After doing that, the only time it will have to be "activated" is if the phone is restored to factory defaults.

I did this with an old iPhone 4, and put it into Airplane mode after I removed the sim to keep from getting all of the annoying alerts.

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Answer 6

Brij011

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Jan 31, 2013 4:18 PM in response to FatMac84

FatMac84 wrote:

I went back to ATT thinking that might solve it. They put a new sim in but still could not activate. According to the support articles, the iphone acts like the touch when the sim is removed.

In that case, I'd try resetting the phone to factory settings (make sure you save any data first).

Settings>general>reset.

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Answer 7

FatMac84 Author

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Jan 31, 2013 4:22 PM in response to ggranger2010

My daughter just said she tried it with the sim from her att phone (not iphone). I am also trying it just now. Same result. I think it has some flavor of ios 5.

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Answer 8

FatMac84 Author

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Jan 31, 2013 4:23 PM in response to Brij011

But, I can never get past the activation. No way to get to settings or anything else.

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Answer 9

ckuan

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Jan 31, 2013 4:26 PM in response to FatMac84

Read this

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3406

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Answer 10

FatMac84 Author

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Jan 31, 2013 4:42 PM in response to ckuan

Thanks for the tip, ckuan. I saw that in my earlier search. The new iphone sim is too small for this one. The inactive sim I got from the ATT store fits, but doesn't help. The sim from my daughters samsung att phone, they all give the same result, unable to reach the activation servers. It is not a problem with the wireless, same result on the Mac with itunes.

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Answer 11

ckuan

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Jan 31, 2013 4:48 PM in response to FatMac84

Was the iPhone hacked or jailbroken before?

You do not need an active sim, use the one that's in the iPhone before.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3424?viewlocale=en_US

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Answer 12

FatMac84 Author

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Jan 31, 2013 5:02 PM in response to ckuan

Wow! That seems to be working. It is going thru a restore and update now. I'll let you know what happens when it is complete! It was never jail broken or anything, just stubborn.

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