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Yes, but if you don't have an Apple ID, the iMessage app will use SMS/MMS, not the proprietary encrypted Apple messaging protocol. This can be tested easily: send a message to another Apple user: it will arrive as a green SMS message, not a blue Apple messaging message.

iMessage without an appleid is just SMS…

Promise all you want, but in the US you can’t activate an iPhone without an Apple ID. Yes, you can set iMessage to only send/receive iMessages using your phone number. However, you cannot set it up in the first place without an Apple ID.

https://www.macworld.com/article/673831/how-to-use-an-iphone...