how to activate iphone 5 without sim card

You cannot activate an iPhone without a SIM. If the device is locked to a carrier, which the error you indicate says that it is, then you can contact Apple Support and ask and they should be able to provide you with the answer. Once you find out who the carrier the device is locked to is, you can see if they provide unlocking services, and if you qualify. If you do, you can request the unlock and then you can use whatever SIM you wish. See this about the unlocking of an iPhone. How to unlock your iPhone - Apple Support

Hi Lawrence,

I respect a lot your opinion as an expert, so I wonder if you could take also a look to this new post where years ago you were a great contributor and provide me your today opinions with your iPhone 7 Plus .

Can use iPad 12W charger to charge iPhone 6s Plus without any risks?

Thanks a lot in advance!

TK

I know this is an old post but it's still an issue that I had to solve tonight and should work for people in your situation. After getting the failed screen "Sim Required" Pull the SIM card out of your working phone and put it in for just a minute. Touch "Try Again" and it will take you to the Location Services screen. At that point you're set. Pull the SIM card out and put it back in your regular phone. You should be able to proceed through restoring the old phone or setting it up as a new device without a SIM card and use it as an iPod Touch. Hope this helps.

From this link: https://www.progeeksblog.com/activate-iphone-without-sim/

Turn the phone off and take the SIM card out, then turn it on. The iPhone will give you an error saying that the phone can’t be activated. Just press the home button and choose emergency call option. Call 112 and as soon as you press the call button, long press the power button as if you wanted to turn it off.

When you are presented with the options to either turn the phone off or to cancel, just tap on cancel and then tap the top of the screen to return to the call you made earlier. After this, just tap the call end key, and voila, you now have an activated device and can use it as an iPod with all the apps just by connecting it to wifi.

I sort of have the same question, I have an IPhone5 that i need to activate, I cannot find out which network its tied to though, I thought it was on O2 so I bought an O2 sim but it said network not recognised, ive tried the same with 3, and Lyca sims but there so far all wrong networks. I cannot go thru trying evry single network till i click with the correct sim.

The phone was brought thru a 3rd party who I have had a bit of a disagreement with so its not possible to ask her. ive tried putting the sim Im currently using in thinking it may be because the others were NEW Sim cards....... but that didn't work. ive tried it using my WiFi but that wont work, I've tried to do it with ITunes but that wont work. Im starting to pull my hair out now. So PLEASE if you know Some Trick or Hack any bloody way so I can find out the network carrier of this Effing Phone without me having to spend who knows how much on every sim...... till i hit jackpot. PLEASE PLEASE SHARE IT WITH ME.

IThank you in advance and await the post thats going to save me from having to (A) wear a wig or (B) start my own private collection of Sim Cards

I really don't understand your reply. The poster you responded to received a reasonable answer immediately after posting. Yours makes no sense. They can call Apple, who will tell them which carrier the phone is locked to. Then call that carrier and get it unlocked.

BTW, hacking a phone in the US is legal. Likewise for Europe. It's a bad idea, but not illegal.

You need a sim to activate it. Read

Using iphone as ipod

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

You need a SIM card to activate the phone - you can even get a used/deactivated SIM.

After you activate your phone you can set up imessage to work with an email address only. It will continue to say wiating for activation under imessage because the phone does not have a phone number associated with it but imessage will still work with the email address

Well the subject to your post asks if it is possible to activate without a sim. Do you have a sim in the phone?

you need a sim card to do what you want to accomplish. End of story. Read this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3406

Yes, I understand you. Do you understand that you NEED a SIM card to activate?

please read the article I linked you to. It answers all your questions.