How do I activate my iPhone 5S without cellular?

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How do I activate my iPhone 5S without cellular?

I have just upgraded to the iphone 6 and want to use my 5S for my daughter as an iPod Touch. I do not want her to have cellular access, just wifi. Is there a way to do this? My phone is actually brand new because the apple store had to replace my old one, long story. So it has never been activated. Originally I tried to activated without a sim card and that did not work so I got a sim card placed at the AT&T store. Now I can access wifi but cannot get any further.

iPhone 5s

Posted on Dec 21, 2014 5:17 PM

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Answer 1

Lyssa

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Dec 21, 2014 5:40 PM in response to acutchins

Are you getting an error message on the screen? If so, what is it?

~Lyssa

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Answer 2

acutchins Author

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Dec 21, 2014 6:09 PM in response to Lyssa

It asks me to connect to a computer with iTunes. When I do that it routes me to Verizon and asks for a phone # etc. if I try to continue without giving a # it tells me to contact Apple support. I have tried to contact Apple support but they want the serial # of the device, which I cannot access!!!

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Answer 3

Lyssa

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Dec 21, 2014 6:18 PM in response to acutchins

I would see if anything here helps: http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT3406

The SIM in the phone either needs to be active or used with a previous plan. You might be able to just put your SIM from your 6 in the 5S to get this activation bit dealt with.

~Lyssa

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Answer 4

acutchins Author

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Dec 21, 2014 6:23 PM in response to Lyssa

are the SIM cards between the devices interchangeable? Do I risk hurting my phone if I do that?

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Answer 5

Lyssa

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Dec 21, 2014 6:32 PM in response to acutchins

They are interchangeable; just power down both phones before swapping the SIMs.

~Lyssa

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Answer 6

acutchins Author

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Dec 21, 2014 6:37 PM in response to Lyssa

I tried it (didn't power down both phones first...hope that was not a huge deal) and since I have a passcode on my 6 the 5 did not accept it as OK for activation.

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Answer 7

Dec 21, 2014 6:44 PM in response to acutchins

Just put your SIM card into your iPhone 5s to activate it. It doesn't need any cellular data if you can connect it to a stable Wi-Fi or connect it to a PC on which iTunes installed. Here are the guide to activate an iPhone: Get help activating your iPhone - Apple Support

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Answer 8

acutchins Author

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Dec 22, 2014 4:25 AM in response to selenafromshenzhen

TThanks to both of you for your help. Going to try with my husband's SIM card tonight since mine didn't work. Maybe because it was a phone issued to me for work and it is password protected for sensitive information?

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Answer 9

acutchins Author

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Dec 22, 2014 6:14 PM in response to acutchins

It Worked!!! Thanks to you both!

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Answer 10

Lyssa

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Dec 22, 2014 6:18 PM in response to acutchins

Good to hear you got it working 🙂

~LYssa

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Answer 11

rscales

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Feb 8, 2015 3:12 PM in response to Lyssa

I am trying to do the same thing. I have an iPhone 5S that I want to make an iPod for my son.

I erased all content on the phone because I'm trying set up the "family sharing" --> thinking I could "activate" it from iTunes. It still has the same AT&T sim card, and it successfully detects wireless, but when I connect to iTunes via my Mac, iTunes detects the phone but gives an error "Your request couldn't be processed."

Any advice?

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