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Comment by windowsrookie | Hacker News Reader

It's essentially an iPhone 7 without a SIM. Just buy one of those. I'm assuming it would cost less than a new iPod touch and it prevents old iPhones from becoming e-waste.

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We have a bunch of old iPhones for kids, but we can’t setup iMessage on those phones without an active phone number. We can setup iMessage (email based) on iPad and iPod Touches, so this is frustrating. I want my kids to not be full on cellular internet, but I like that they can message relatively safely friends and family with iMessage.

I'm using an old iPhone without a SIM card as a spare device and iMessage works on it WIFI-only. But I have to admit that initial setup of the Apple ID wasn't done on this phone. Perhaps you could setup your kids Apple IDs on another device and then use them on the old phones with iMessage as well?

We use a cell service called Tello for my kids phones. For $5/mo you can get a plan with 100 minutes of voice calls, sms, and no data whatsoever. It's perfect for my kids, since I don't really want them to have mobile data anyway

Thank you!

I have been looking for a cheaper, no-data SIM card to use with 2FA Mules - this is very helpful.

I thought you could set iMessage up to use an email address. I did that before but it's been a while.

You do not need a phone number for iMessage. You can make an apple account with an email address, and use the email address as your Apple ID.

I don’t believe this is true or something let’s me not need any [working] sim in my phones. I can log into an iCloud account and FT, iMessage accounts on non sim working phones too.

Strange, I have iMessage set up on an old iPhone XS with no SIM and no phone number tied to the Apple ID

You're missing something; I have a first gen SE that's got no SIM and it has email based iMessage setup and working. It's for my son to FaceTime with family.

Major problem with that: Phones without SIMs can still make emergency calls (911, etc).

I got one for my kid as a camera. Why? Because it costs as much as many kids cameras, while they're absolute trash, and the camera module/software in the iPod takes really high quality photos that are easy to export or manipulate.

Old iPhones are inexpensive, but you cannot disable emergency calling for a good reason, but that good reason still doesn't make you want to hand one to a 7-year-old as a glorified camera.

Is the concern that they will accidentally dial 911, or intentionally? I have a 7 year old and can't really imagine either happening.

Both. Just a whole scope of problem that can be eliminated by not getting a device with a cellular modem. Plus a lot of iOS devices have strange interactions with iPhones without phone numbers (imessage and signal for two specific examples).

This is the worst thing about Signal, IMO. I want to use old phones as backup communication devices (wifi) but can't natively use the software that way.

> It's essentially an iPhone 7 without a SIM. Just buy one of those.

You literally can't "just buy one" that's new to give to a kid.

Why be pedantic, the point GP is making is obvious.

It’s not even pedantic. The next line says “new iPods” are pricier than iPhone 7s. So they meant non new iPhone 7s. Followed by e-waste which wouldn’t be about a new device

The person knows that. If you read on. That’s why they say it’s probably cheaper than a new iPod. By saying “new” for iPod, it’s a distinction versus iPhone 7s. Then they bring up e-waste which is about used devices being re-used. Not using a new device.

You will need to go down to iPhone 6S to get the headphone jack.

You could just stick the adapter on the end of their headphones cable and it effectively works the same.

Minus being able to listen while charging (or dealing with more adapters), losing your adapter after you pocket it when you want to use your headphones on any other device, etc...

It's very much not an iPhone 7 without a SIM.

Chiefly, it weighs 88g vs the 138g for the iPhone - a considerable difference for a child.

I'm sorry but I disagree. I carried around a game boy pocket, with several game cartridges just fine as a kid. I see kids taking Nintendo switches and an iPad everywhere with them today.

On an iPod FaceTime and iMessage work as expected over Wifi. Last time I tried to use an iPhone without a sim card they didn't work. Is that still the case? If so, is it a technical limitation or an intentional one?

Yeah I posted about it above and people said it works fine. I wonder if it depends on who you original carrier was or something? I'm going to try again!

I think carrier-locked devices may want a SIM to boot upon first install of the OS, though you can remove it later on.

Someone gave me an iPhone 7 the other day. It's a great phone. It runs the latest iOS too, so you're supported for a good while.

Some apps are a little cramped on what is now considered a small screen though (e.g. TikTok UI takes up most of the screen).

If you’ve got a kid or kids, don’t even give e-waste a second thought. The environmental cost of a new person is so astronomical as to make any other decision you make a rounding error.

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