How to Activate iPhone without Sim Card [5 Working Methods]

If you bought an iPhone for your children or for using it as an iPod, then, You may probably need to activate your iPhone. For that, you need to insert a SIM card in it. Here are some best working ways by which you can activate iPhone without SIM.

activate iPhone without SIM

After the release of iOS 12, there is no need to put the sim card for activating the iPhone. Yes, If you bought iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, or iPhone XR, then you can directly start using your phone. We’ve personally tested this out, it works from the release of iOS 12.6 beta release, and now iOS 12 is stable which means that you can access all the services or features of your iPhone. But, for all other older iPhones which are running on iOS 9,10, or iOS 11, read below How to activate iPhone without sim card.

If you’ve old iPhone may be it’s iPhone SE, 5/5s, 6/6s/6s Plus, 7/7 Plus, 8/8 Plus or an iPhone X. And if it’s not updated to iOS 12, then you need a separate SIM card to get activated your phone for further use. So, Here are some best working methods.

How to Activate iPhone without SIM Card

Note: All the solutions are working on all the iPhones, iPhone SE, 5/5s, 6/6s/6s Plus, 7/7 Plus, 8/8 Plus or an iPhone X. We’ve tested these methods personally and all of them are working for us and works well in 2018.

1. Setup New iPhone using iTunes

iTunes is one of the major tools, you can use to perform some amazing tasks to your iPhone. Whether its, transferring a file, restoring an iPhone, set up a new iPhone, and a lot more. So, Here we need to setup a new iPhone, which will help us to activate iPhone without SIM.

  1. Download and Install the latest iTunes on your Mac or PC.
  2. Connect your iPhone to your PC.
  3. Go to Help > Check for Updates, available at the top left corner of the iTunes.
  4. It’ll establish the connection between iTunes & iPhone.
  5. Once processing will complete, you can start using your iPhone without activating.
  6. Now, It’ll show you a pop-up, where you can select “Set up as a new iPhone” and continue.activate iPhone without SIM
  7. That’s it.

But, if the message seems like “There is no SIM card installed in the iPhone you are attempting to activate”. Then you may probably need to insert a SIM card on your iPhone.

If you’ve faced this issue, then you can follow other methods which will also work.

2. Update your iPhone to iOS 12

If you can able to update your iPhone to the latest version, then this method is working for you. As I said earlier iOS 12 doesn’t need any SIM card for activating the iPhone. The update is available on almost every user. So, If your iPhone is running on iOS 10 or iOS 11, update your iPhone to the latest iOS 12 as soon as possible, Here are the steps:

  1. Open your iPhone Settings.
  2. Now scroll down and head over to General settings.
  3. Click on Software Update, If any update is available click on Download and Install.activate iPhone without SIM
  4. Enter the passcode, if needed.
  5. Tap on Agree for the Terms and Conditions.
  6. That’s it.

It will start updating your iPhone to the latest available iOS version. After rebooting the phone, it’ll not be asking you to insert a SIM card for activation.

3. Use Virtual SIM or E-SIM

The new iPhones support E-SIM, which is one of the useful and cool features. Use can also use E-SIM to activate iPhone without SIM card. Also, You can use virtual SIM like R-SIM for activating the device. Here’s how.

E-SIM Methodactivate iPhone without SIM

You can tell the SIM operator to activate the E-SIM on your iPhone, as in India, Jio/Airtel starts activating this service on the iPhones. Once, the SIM is activated on your iPhone. Your phone starts working for you, then you can also deactivate them easily. Give any valid reason to the service operator, like, my child starts using the phone and he/she is under 18. Then they’ll deactivate the SIM and you can start using the phone without any issue.

R-SIM Methodactivate iPhone without SIM

Basically R-SIM is used as the smart unlocking system, which simply means that, you can use R-SIM as a virtual SIM card which helps to activate your phone without the need of original working SIM. Well, the cheapest R-SIM is cost around $7.99 up to $27.99. You can buy any of them to activate iPhone without SIM. It is available on Amazon.

  1. Insert R-SIM into the card holder and put it in your phone.
  2. Choose the available carrier options.
  3. Now, Power off your device and reboot it.
  4. Once, done.
  5. There’s no need to activate iPhone.

4. Jailbreak to Bypass

Jailbreak is one of the alternative to all the above solutions. You can freeing your iPhone from all the things which you’re not able to access it now. This Guide from DigitalTrends will help beginners to Jailbreak the iPhone easily. So, follow the guide carefully.

Once the process is completed, restart your iPhone and it’ll not ask your to activate.

5. Borrow a SIM

Yes, you can also borrow a SIM card from your neighbor or family friend for activate iPhone. After doing the setup, return the SIM to them. This is one of the easy method from all the other methods. In some countries like India, almost everyone are using 2 SIMs, so you can also do it with one of your SIM if you have 2.

Bonus Method: Unlock your iPhone via (Paid Method)

See Also – How to Take Long Screenshot on iPhone

Bottom Line:

It’s obvious that, you are giving the phone to the other person, whether it is your kid or any other person. Then you’re format or reset your iPhone and it stuck on SIM card activation process, which means you’re setting up a new iPhone. So, you can easily set up using iTunes. But only if, your phone is updated to iOS 12 or you can able to do it, then these methods are one of the easy ones.

Do let us know, if you’re facing any issues, in the comment section below. Also, let us know which method is working for you and share this post with your friends on social media.

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AUTHOR.

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Haneet Singh

Haneet is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of YTECHB. He has a huge passion for tinkering with latest smartphones, wearables, smart home devices, smart TVs, and more. As an avid Apple Ecosystem user, he loves customizing his iPhone and iPad to suit his needs. For tips, you can connect Haneet at haneetsingh@outlook.com In 2019, Haneet and the YTECHB team exclusively shared the wallpapers of iPhone 11 right before the launch event. In 2020, Haneet alongside his team members shared exclusive renders and official photos of two Samsung Galaxy smartphones - the Galaxy M11, and Galaxy M21. Later, the YTECHB team leaks information about Motorola's feature phones and Razr 3. In the last few months, our team shared Galaxy S24 Ultra leaks and more. You may come across his work getting mentioned in The Times of India, India Today, Hindustan Times, NDTV, TechRadar, Digital Trends, Yahoo News, GSMArena, Android Authority, Android Central, Android Headlines, SamMobile, XDA, 9to5Google, and many other publications. He works across news, updates, features, guides, and more. If YTECHB writes about it, you can expect him to be involved in some way.

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