Keep getting "waiting for activation" for imessage and facebook on my iphone 5s. I am not using a cell service at this time.

I am running into the same problem only with my iPhone 6s. I bought an iPhone 8 and want to use my old phone as an iPod. It should be working only it isn’t. My iPad works, my Mac...

I can send regular SMS text messages from my iPad and my Mac when I am near my iPhone 8 to people who don’t have iPhones. I did the same thing when I was using my old phone as a phone. Is that what you are trying to do?

I talked to Apple support today and they will be calling me Tuesday afternoon to follow up. If I learn anything new, I will post it here. And if anybody learns anything new, I hope you will post as well.

I also don't have active cell service. There is a number that shows up under the send and receive that is not mine. It is my wife's #. I can't remove this number and it just has a spinning icon next to it. I am having issues sending messages to her.

In regards to a previous reply, I believe if I were to borrow an active SIM, then it might attempt to pick up that number on it.

That is correct. You must have cell service to use iMessage on an iPhone. Enabling and maintaining iMessage on an iPhone requires periodically exchanging "invisible" SMS messages with Apple's servers.

You will not be able to activate those without cell service. A text is sent to the iPhone for verification. If you use an active SIM for just a few moments you should be able to activate it.