If you want to activate a used iPhone, you have a few options. The first option is the easiest: take it to an AT&T Wireless store (or Verizon/Sprint Store for CDMA iPhones), set up a new account, and receive a new SIM card. A second option is to jailbreak the iPhone and use it as an iPod touch without phone service. A third option is to jailbreak and unlock the iPhone for use on another carrier like T-Mobile.
Take the iPhone to AT&T Wireless
If a friend or loved one gives you their old iPhone, you can make it your own by taking it to an AT&T store and telling them you have an old iPhone and would like to use it as your own. You’ll have to sign up for AT&T service, and they’ll give you a new sim card. Once you install the SIM card, you can activate the iPhone at home using iTunes. This is by far the easiest way to activate and reuse an old iPhone.
Can I Use a Carrier Other Than AT&T or Verizon?
It is possible to unlock the original iPhone, iPhone 3G, 3GS, and GSM iPhone 4 so that they work on T-Mobile in the US, although they won’t work on T-Mobile’s 3G data network, only T-Mobile’s last-gen EDGE data network. This will mean slightly slower speeds.
The CDMA (Verizon & Sprint) iPhone 4 cannot be unlocked and can only be used on Verizon/Sprint in the US.
We don’t recommend unlocking, but if you want to do it, it is not illegal. An unlocked iPhone can be a hassle, however. For example, you won’t be able to take advantage of Apple’s iPhone software updates until the people who created the unlocking software tell you it’s ok to update.
Someone Wants to Give Me Their Old iPhone. What Do I Need to Do?
If a friend or family member wants to give you their old iPhone, and you want to use it as a phone, ask them to erase all content on the iPhone before giving it to you. This is done on the iPhone by going into Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings > Erase iPhone. Note that this erasing process can take up to two hours.
If you want to use the iPhone just as an iPod touch without phone service, read the section immediately below.
Can I Use the iPhone Without Phone Service (Like an iPod Touch)?
Yes, and it will work with iTunes too, allowing you to buy and synch music and apps from the App Store. But, you should ask the person who’s giving you the used iPhone to keep the original SIM card inside the iPhone. Your friend will have to tell AT&T to disable their old SIM card and get a new one. The reason you should keep the old SIM card inside the iPhone is so that you can take advantage of new software upgrades and restore your iPhone.
Your friend should also restore the iPhone before giving it to you so all his data is erased. Just make sure the iPhone is activated (you can open apps, etc) when it is given to you.
What If There Is No Sim Card Inside the Used iPhone?
As long as the previous owner hasn’t left the iPhone in a restored, unactivated state, you can still use all the iPhone’s features (including synching with iTunes) except for the phone functions.
Without the original SIM card, you won’t be able to install software updates from Apple or restore the iPhone until you get a new SIM card.
If you restore or install one of Apple’s upgrades without a SIM card, the iPhone will stop working. It won’t work again until you activate it with a new SIM card or jailbreak it.
In other words, do not restore or attempt to upgrade the iPhone unless you have the original SIM card inside.
I Have an Unactivated Used iPhone Without a SIM Card. How Do I Activate It?
If you’re not going to take the iPhone to AT&T or Verizon to activate it, your only option is to jailbreak it. The term jailbreaking essentially means hacking the iPhone so that you can do whatever you want with it, including installing applications that are not approved by Apple and then unlocking it for use on other wireless phone carriers.
How Do I Jailbreak and/or Unlock My iPhone?
To jailbreak and unlock your iPhone, you’ll need to download some free software. The jailbreak software you’ll need depends on the software version of your iPhone. Your best bet to find the latest jailbreak and unlocking software is to Google the terms Jailbreak and whatever version of the iPhone software is on your phone (for example, Jailbreak and iPhone 4.2.1). Note that oftentimes, when a new iPhone software update comes out, it can take a while to figure out how to do jailbreak it, so jailbreaking/unlocking software may not be available for your version yet. Some advice: do not ever pay for jailbreaking and unlocking software, as the software is always offered for free. Another suggestion for instructions on how to jailbreak your iPhone is to check out this page on iClarified.com. They have step-by-instructions for jailbreaking every version of the iPhone and iOS software.
Ok im kind of worried, i got an iphone off a friend right, she took the sim card out of it and gave me the phone. I accidently restored it, not knowing what i was doing. Now the phone is locked on emergency mode and wants me to activate it. All i want to do is use it as an itouch for now. I got the original sim back, she disabled it and got a new one. Is there any hope of getting it activating it without paying a bill?
oh and this website was alot of help, really, i feel like im an expert now lol besides the fact i dont know the answer to my own question :)
Try the program QuickPwn. See the last paragraph in the post.
i have a restored used iphone without the sim card is there any hope for me?
Start fresh. Restore 2.2.1 on your iphone. When that’s done run quickpwn, that will bypass activation and jailbreak your iphone.
what if the quickpwn doesnt intialized on my computer
Does Jailbreaking your iphone also activate it?
Ben: In a way, I guess you could say it activates it. You can connect it to iTunes, put music on it, download apps, etc.
My brother died & I have his old iPhone (original). It still has the SIM card tho he wasn’t using it as a phone anymore. The screen is locked & available for 911 calls only. I’ve tried syncing it for music tho it keeps taking me to the activation screens in iTunes. Is there any way I can use it as just an ipod/itouch? Do I have to jailbreak it? Many thanks-
I have a friend’s iphone 2g. No sim card. If I jailbreak the phone using quickpwn, how do I use the phone on a non-ATT network?
i found an iphone, i don’t want to loose the songs and ringtones. i’m a aT&T member.. what can i do?
A friend gave me an iphone and restored it without the original sim because it was deactivated. I have my own sim from my own phone. When I put my sim in the phone it is locked and can only do emergency calls. What can I do?
My son bought a used iphone off ebay. He has a sim card from his old phone with AT&T. It wouldn’t work so we bought the Software Unlock Jailbreak for Apple iPhone 2G 3.0 OS Version 3.0. How can he use his phone? He doesn’t want the internet. Thanks
If you don’t want to use Att and a data plan, you’ll probably have to use T-Mobile instead. Get a tmobile phone, switch the sim card into the iPhone.
I accidentally broke the screen on my (original) iPhone and I am getting another original from a friend that I plan to use for a few months while I save up for the 3GS. My question is would simply switching my SIM into a different iPhone force me to sign a new 2 year contract with AT&T? I dont want to until I get the 3G because I qualify for the new customer discount. Its just simply a money issue right now.
Joaks: no, you should be fine as long as you didn’t cancel your previous AT&T account from the other iPhone.
I have an old iphone from a friend. I have an ATT account currently. I want to use the iphone as my phone, but I can not afford the data plan, and don’t really need all the internet capabilities at this time. Will ATT let me activate through them without signing up for 2 years of data plan?
Unfortunately, they won’t.
ok so i dont know what to do anymore….i got an iphone without a sim card….i made the mistake of restoring it….and now i cant get everything i had back on my iphone….what can i do?? is there a way of putting everything back the way it was???? if so what can i do?? please help
Jailbreak your iPhone. This can be done for free. Google “How to Jailbreak your iPhone” and make sure the instructions are for whatever your version of the iPhone software is. If you aren’t technologically inclined, find someone who is to help you figure it out.
I bought an iphone from craigslist. When I try to connect it to itunes, it tell me there was an error. I don’t know the current iphone version or firmware. Is there software I can use that will give this info?
Nick, try restoring it. Follow these steps:
* Turn off your iPhone by pressing the Sleep button at the top for 5 seconds, then “Slide to Power Off”
* Launch iTunes on your computer
* Hold down the home button on the iPhone
* While holding down the home button, plug your iPhone in to the computer using the USB cord
* Keep holding the home button until you see the restore screen pop up in iTunes
* Click Restore.
Hi,
I bought an iphone 3g from a co-worker. I bought some apps from the itunes store, downloaded them to my itunes however, i can not get them to install. when i called At&t they tried to get me to activate it which i do not want to do 1. because i am on deployment in iraq. and 2. because i plan on unlocking it. what do i do? also, do i need to keep my co-workers sim?
If you’re not going to activate it with AT&T, you’ ll have to jailbreak the iPhone to get the apps to transfer onto it. We are not a jailbreaking site, but there is plenty of info on the Internet with detailed instructions on how to do so. It’s easy.
Now, if your friend still has his old sim card (that was used in the iPhone) and is not using it, try popping it in and see if it works.
Hi. I got an iPhone off a friend, and they left the sim card in it. I erased everything before taking their card out, and then swapped my card in and started downloading apps and stuff.
I’m just wondering if when they cancel the sim card (I have no idea if it’s been done already), is it suddenly going to render the iPhone useless?
my iphone 3gs icons are not bright enough, If i keep under a bright light i can see all the icons otherwise it is black. The apple logo is also grey. I tried switching off the main button and the home button simulatenously still did not light up. can anybody help me with this.
my question is a little different. I have an iphone 3g and i want to activate it, but kind of like “under my name.” it has always been my phone so i have everything on it, but my mom couldn’t pay the bill so she let them cancel the service, but i can still access everything on it. I don’t mind getting a new number or whatever, but i can’t activate it on itunes because the phone already had a phone number to it, even though the service is cancelled… what do i do? PLEASE HELP!!! =l
Okay So I bought a used I-phone …I put my sims card from ATT in it and it works fine.. but I cannot downlaod anyything.. the I-tunes comes up and asks for the pasword to sign-in , but its under the other persons I-tunes account.. how can I change that and use my own signon ??
i bought an iphone off of ebay and a sim card off of ebay, will AT&T let me activate my new iphone and sim onto my existing AT&T account with a new AT&T number?
HELP PLEASEEEE. :)
Hi i bought an iphone 3g off my cousin for 50.00. I bought it cheap because he was under contract and couldnt afford the bill so he just didnt pay and has a huge bill with them.I on the other hand have a new at&t account can i use my sims in this iphone or will it lock or something because he still owes them money?
Hi. Okay so I have an iphone am with at&t. I found an iphone on the beach, wet but still works. Password locked – in German. Tried to take it to AT&T they said it was unlocked sim with a Tmobile card. So… they can’t help me find owner. Tmobile is no where near me. Now what do I do with the phone. Can I use it? It is bigger than mine, mine is an 8 this is a 32GB. Feel bad, would like to return it – yeah really. But there is no way. Tmobile will not help me over the phone and the cost of driving the 230 miles to the store is out of the question. Is there anyway to just switch the sim and use it with my itunes setup? Should I take it back to AT&T to do this? Not sure….
Hi, I have iphone restored without Sim card. I don’t know the firmware version on it. Does anyone know of a link that shows me how to jailbreak an iphone with no Sim card and unknown version?
I bought an iphone 2g from a friend, and restored it without a sim, what type of sim cards can work with the iphone?
Without unlocking, you’ll need to the original sim card that was activated with the iPhone. If unlocking, you can use the sim card of a cell phone company with a GSM network. T-Mobile and AT&T in the US.
Type your comment here
can i activate iphone with no sim?
If the iPhone is not activated already, you’ll need to jailbreak the iPhone if you want to use it without a sim card.
I have a I-phone 3g… It’s currently not activated… and I don’t know what firmware it has… what can I do? I don’t know if I can jail-break if I don’t know the firmware version… please do help.
Thanks
-SM
P.S. I don’t have an ATT sim-card…. or account.
-SM
I read that the Iphone will work on the Sprint network.
How do I activate a used Iphone to work on my current Sprint plan (voice & data, no walkie-talkie) ???
Thanks,
mancarli
Have a new/unactivated hong kong unlocked 3gs iphone and have a current at&t non-data account. i put my current v3i phone sim card in my new iphone and all it allows is emergency calls. Cant get to the phone part. What can I do to get it to work with my current att sim?
thanks,
My nephew gave his old iPhone, 8gb to my daughter to use since he upgraded to the 32. She has an account with AT&T with her Pantech Duo she is now using. She put her Sim card in the iPhone, but it will not do anything but allow emergency calls. What does she have to do to be able to use this phone? My nephews old sim card was still in the phone but since he upgraded to a new phone that sim is no longer useable. I just need to know how does she activate this phone to be able to use it as a phone.
hi when i plug my iphone 2g into itune it comes up with the iphone thing on the left and when i click on it to activate it, it only shows in grey letters “iPhone and nuthing else to activate it… how do i activate it?
my friend give me an iphone from Japan with Softbank sim card in it… (but I live in other country out side japan) is it still possible for me to activate the iphone when someday i restored/reset it?
I just feel I need to comment that the impression people have that apple is “user friendly” just seems nuts. On the contrary they seem positively “user hostile”. In order to do somthing as simple as getting a 2nd hand iphone to turn on you need to restore the firmware and then “jailbreak” it. WTF! Any other device and it is a simple matter of pressing the “on” button.
please help updated to newest firmware is there a program to jailbreak this firmware
Hey there
one of my friend give me Iphone and he erased the Iphone before he gave it to me.is there any way I can use the Iphone.what I need to do now.is just showing the emergency call display.
i am interested in purchasing used iphone but i would like to set it up for tmobile is this possible and how?
Hey I just bought the Iphone 3gs unlocked and I was going to activate it, and something is wrong with my itunes is not working any more and there is an error on the itunes download, , is there any way that I can actiate it without itunes?>>>???
Ok, I bought an iPhone 3G and as you descirbed above it came without sim. Works great as an iPod. Now, I would like to get it to work with T-Mobile without losing the PUSH notifications which Apple intentionally disabled for non ATT carriers. What is the best step I can take to be able to keep my phone’s ability to interact with MobileMe via (PUSH).
Thanks in advance!
I found an iPhone in the street in Las Vegas. It had no SIM card, and indicated it needed to be connected to iTunes. So, in an attempt to see if I could locate any info on the owner, I inserted my iPhone SIM, connected it to iTunes and it activated (under my account, I suppose). The phone has absolutely NO info on it whatsoever. So, I have 2 questions. First, can the original owner be located with no SIM? When I called AT&T they said I should just ‘drop it off at a corporate store’, but the rep ended up saying they will probably just sell it as refurbished rather than tracking the owner…does anyone know if this is true? My second question, if the original owner cannot be found, can it be used as an iTouch with no phone service?
Thanks for any help! I certainly didn’t get any from AT&T!
I’m going to buy an iPhone 3g off of craigslist soon. I have a samsung impression on the ATT network. Can I put my impression sim card into the iPhone and still be able to text and call? And if I use wifi at my house, will I be charged for Internet? If I get Internet on my impression, can I go on the Internet on the iPhone with that sim card?(requires first question answered) please help me!
I am under T-mobile right now, I want to buy a used i-phone 3gs if I simply switch the sim cards from my T-mobile phone to the i-phone, would I have to purchase a data plan? and if so, who would I have to purchase the data plan from?
Hi, my friend bought an iphone with orange from europe and came back suddenly to india without activating it.Is it possible to activate it with other indian service provider?
Hi, my friend bought an iphone 3GS with orange from europe and came back suddenly to india without activating it.Is it possible to activate it with other indian service provider?
I have a iphone 2g that somebody gave me and it needs to be activated but it has a passcode on it too. i want to use it again, so what do i do?
I had a little too much to drink one night when I changed the password on my iphone. I want to be able to change or eliminate the current password without losing the data that I have on the phone. I originally set it up with my mac that crashed, and now I have a PC and I never backed up the phone so I don’t want to just restore back to original as it will lose all my data. Is there a program I can use to accomplish this????
why do you have to restore it after you buy it froma friend ? ? could you add things to the iphone without restoring it ?
If i buy an iphone from ebay, i can activate it by jailbreaking it? Then can i put my old sim card in and get service?
I have an iphone that is in a restored, unactivated condition . . . it has no sim card. I’d like to use it as a defacto ipod touch. If I purchase a sim card on craigslist, will that enable me to activate the phone (and receive future software updates). Or do I need to jailbreak it?
i have an iphone 2g that been restored to it original factory setting. The phone is now in the emergency mode as it wants me to put in the sim card to activate it. But i dont want to purchase the data plan. Now the phone is like in it inactivate state and only emergency mode. How to make it back to its original state which i can use the app in there and jailbreak it in order to unlock the phone.
Okay, I have a problem… I stupidly restored my old iPhone 2G after upgrading it. I was currently using it without a sim card. Is there anyway I can activate it without the sim card?
Or, I have another iPhone with a sim card, so could I put that sim card in the 2G phone and activate it? Will I get charged by AT&T?
Hello, this is a very informative site and I was hoping you could help me with the following situation (which I think many people are in):
I have been given an iPhone 3G, without the SIM card, and the previous owner did not erase their content from the phone. My ultimate goal, if possible, is to unlock the phone with blackra1n and put in my SIM card.
Question: Can I, without the sim card in the phone, hit “Erase and Sync” when the prompt “The iPhone ‘iPhone’ is synced with another iTunes library. Do you want to erase this iPhone and sync with this iTunes library” comes up? Or, at the least, erase the iphone as you detail above?
In essence, I want to have the iPhone syncing with >my< iTunes account, but don't know if I can do this or if I should do it before or after unlocking the phone….
Thanks for any help that can be provided.
hey i bought an iphone 3 g off friend but it didnt have a sim card it so i used it as an itouch for a while but now i sort of restored by accident so it wont let me go on itune aether so how do i make it work? plz help
i updated my iphone 3g and now it says insert a valid sim with no pin lock to activate iphone… All i want to do is get pass this screen and play and use my iphone and listen to my ipod touch on iphone without a sim. How is that possible? (Help)
I am selling my 1st generation 8GB iPhone. Should I remove the SIM card? If so why and what should I tell the buyer?
To anyone with iphone problem, I have a couple suggestions for you. If you’v gotten a iphone from a friend and you dont have the original sim card or you phone is stuck on the the emergency dial screen (or apple logo), the first thing is try an restore it through itunes. If itunes wont read the phone saying “sim card must be installed” you can put the phone in DFU mode, which will allow itunes to restore regardless if the sim card is installed or not. You do this by holding the power and the home button for about ten seconds. When the screen goes black DO NOT RELEASE THE HOME BUTTON, but release the power button with your thumb still on the home button. Keep it on for about ten seconds or until itunes recognizes it. Then go to itunes and restore it. Next EVEN IF THIS DOES WORK you can also unlock the iphone using something like “Blackra1n”.. It very simple and takes about 2 min to work.
I just bought a 2g iphone off ebay. I have service with ATT and have an ATT simcard in my Blackberry curve. If I unlock and Jailbreak the phone will my sim card work. Also since I am staying with ATT, if I unlock and jailbreak the phone do I have to get the data plan(meaning once I put my sim in are they going to start charging me for it or does unlocking and jailbreaking take care of that? I have wifi almost everywhere I am I dont need to pay $30 a month for data.
Hello,
I just purchased an iPhone 2G off of eBay, and separately, bought a SIM card off Amazon for about $5. Is there any way to activate the SIM card with the iPhone? I’m interested in data, all that stuff, just no contract.
Thanks,
hey
jail breaking my iphone worked thanks for the tip
My brother gave me his old iphone but it was bought without a sim card so it shouldn’t be locked to a certain network. He’s restored it and unlocked it but now I can’t activate it and itunes tells me my sim card isn’t valid for use with an iphone, although my phone company told me it would be. Is there anything I can do?