Re: can I use my iphone 5c with just wifi and no carrier?

Question

Level 1

0 points

Re: can I use my iphone 5c with just wifi and no carrier?

Any help here? My son was sent an iPhone 4 from a faraway state. It still has its original SIM card in it. Original owner reset the phone, we activated it... I cannot see where we've done anything "wrong," but Messages and Facetime still won't activate.

Searching on this subject returns hundreds of pages with instructions, by the way. That tells me that this is a common question, that the solution is inscrutable, and/or it doesn't work for everyone and when it does, it's a different combination of juju for each instance. How difficult can it be to just have a "deactivate cellular" switch in Settings, that forces Messages and FaceTime to use wifi and the Apple ID?

Posted on Aug 19, 2015 8:16 AM

Reply

Answer 1

modular747

Level 6

19,656 points

Aug 19, 2015 7:33 PM in response to SFWyoming

From this article: iOS: Troubleshooting FaceTime and iMessage activation

Make sure that you’re connected to a cellular data or Wi-Fi network. If you're using an iPhone, you'll need SMS messaging to activate your phone number with iMessage and FaceTime. Depending on your carrier, you might be charged for this SMS.

As you can see, SMS/cellular phone capability is required to activate iMessage and FaceTime.

How difficult can it be to just have a "deactivate cellular" switch in Settings,

Don't know - maybe you can tell us. iPhones were not designed or intended to be used as non-cellular devices such as iPods.

Why don't you educate Apple and inform them that you are entitled to have iPhones and iOS designed to suit your needs:

Apple - iPhone - Feedback

Reply

Answer 2

SFWyoming Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 19, 2015 7:33 PM in response to modular747

Well that was an unexpectedly rude response. I refer you to Apple's own page (linked above as well) to indicate that Apple does, in fact, believe it's a perfectly reasonable thing to do with a $600 device. Using an iPhone without a wireless service plan

The KB article you linked to assumes I am still connected to a cellular plan. I am not, and as I said, many many owners of older iPhones would like to accomplish this same thing. There are several blog posts out there with similar instructions but none have had a solution that's different from the others (so far I've tried about half a dozen, with dozens more to read through). So it must work for some, but I'm guessing the old phones are still in the same service area in which they were recently active. As I said, this phone is 1000 miles from where it was last powered on.

I understand that Apple assumes certain workflows and engineers around that, but this is a very common use of iPhones that Apple acknowledges as valid and not unexpected. The process should be changed.

Reply