Wil iPhone 3GS work without SIM card?

I am getting ready to upgrade to an iPhone 4. Someone had told me that after I take my SIM card out of my 3GS that my kids could still play the games we have installed on it. That it would continue to operate like an iPod Touch. Is this true?

Yep:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3406

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ITunes doesn't see my iPhone 3gs. The sim card was pulled out while the 6.1.3 was installing. How do I restore the phone?

iTunes doesn't see my iPhone 3gs. The sim card was pulled out while the 6.1.3 was installing. How do I restore the phone?

iOS: Unable to update or restore - Support - Apple

Selling IPhone 3GS...SIM card questions

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me. I bought my mother an iPad and, for her needs, it really replaces her iphone 3gs so I bought her a simple cell phone to replace the iphone so she can just make calls from it. This simple cell phone came with a new sim card in it. I was planning on selling my mother's iphone 3gs on ebay with her old sim card in it. I erased all content and settings on this iphone so is it okay to sell the iphone with her old sim card in it or should I remove it? In the past, I have sold my old erased iphones with the sim card still in it and now I don't know if that was a mistake. Is there personal info on the sim card that somebody can access even after the iphone was erased? Thanks much.

As when data is erased from a hard drive, if not securely erased the erased data can be recovered by a data recovery utility.
The chances of someone going to that trouble with a SIM card and there isn't much they could do with it anyway if the data was obtained, why take the chance. It isn't your responsibility to include your no longer activated SIM card with a phone that you sell for someone who is interested in using the iPhone in a way that is not designed or intended. The iPhone is designed to be used as a phone - to be activated, and whoever purchases your iPhone will need to get a new SIM card from AT&T or use their existing AT&T SIM card from another phone if they are an existing AT&T subscriber in order to activate the iPhone with their line/number with AT&T as designed and intended.
More than likely no harm done or no need to worry if you include your SIM card but why have any concern about it whatsoever?
To each his/her own.

IPhone WiFi doesn't work without SIM card?

So today I took the SIM card out of my old 2G phone (which I use as a iPod Touch). I noticed that it no longer worked on WiFi. Once I put the SIM card back in, it worked again.
It's not a big deal (just leave the old SIM card in), but is that behaviour expected?
Message was edited by: Host <to clarify title>

Hey Greg,
You may want to reset network settings or restore the iPhone.
I just took the SIM out of an iPhone 3G and an original iPhone. They were both able to browse web pages without the SIM inserted.
Jason

Brand new iPhone 3GS 32GB, put sim card in, turned on, Slide for Emergency.

I just bought an iPhone 3GS with 32GB black, I used the pin to eject the sim card socket, and put the sim card in.then i pressed the silver power button at the top right corner for 3 seconds, it turned on with the gray apple. Then it comes to "Slide for emergency" with this itunes icon.
Now what do I do?

Ok seems to work. Thanks very much. Connecting to iTunes solved the problem. I presume I was one of the few cases where the iPhone didn't work without being hooked up to a computer first.
(I had read reports about this happening to people after they had upgraded, or 'jailbroke' their phone, but since I had done neither of these things, I was worried)
All iPhones have to be activated through iTunes. Usually it is done at the store when you buy it.

Use of Iphone 3Gs with another SIM card

I purchased an Iphone 3Gs in France from Orange without a contract, i.e. paid the full price and therefore it should be unlocked. I now want to use it for trips and put another SIM card in it. Now after resetting it, it simply tells me that the SIM is invalid... Any suggestions?

Call Orange. Even though it should have been unlocked, they still lock it until you ask them to unlock it. They're obligated to unlock it, so don't let them tell you otherwise.

IPhone 4 runs without SIM card after installing iOS 7/7.1.1

After installing iOS 7 and all the latest update by using iTunes on my iPhone 4 I now have the problem that when starting the phone without a phone card I get the information that the SIM card is blocked and that you have to slide to unlock, the same information you usually receive when such a card is inside. Once unlocked the code screen appears asking for the PIN. The iPhone runs after having entered the PIN and you can open and work with all the apps which don't need an access to the internet like Calendar, Notes, Settings etc.. What has gone wrong? Can anybody help me please.

The SIM is only actually required during activation. And if you want a connection to a cellular carrier, of course. Once activated, the SIM can be removed and the device can be used as if it were an iPod Touch. This has always been this way.
I'm not entirely clear on what you think is wrong.

IPhone 3GS not recognising sim card????

I recently upgraded from an iPhone 3GS to an iPhone 4. As I had bought the phone from Orange I was able to keep it and had planned to give it to my daughter to use. Before handing the phone over to her, I deleted all the information on it. I can't remember how I did this, but it was built into the iPhone menu and left the phone, just as it was when I first bought it, asking for configuration, language settings, enable locations settings etc., The iPhone was working BRILLIANTLY before this and I had never ever experienced any problems with it at all.
My daughter is now the not so proud owner of my old 3GS, she can not use it. She has put her Orange Sim Card (contract) from her "old phone" into the 3GS and it is not saying "No Sim Card". I have also tried to connect this 3GS with iTunes and the iPhone emblem is visible in the menu on the left hand side of the screen, but when you click on this emblem it throws up a similar message saying the does not have a sim card in it (when I know it does because I put it in there).
I have spoken to the iPhone support at Orange who had me doing various things in trying out various Orange sim cards within the 3GS and it would not recognise any of them. The support guy got me to carry out a "software" reset (by pression the home button and on/off button at the same time), the sim card was still not recognised. His final words were, it's got to be the phone and you warranty has run out. He seems to think it is a software problem....
I had recently updated the IOS to 5.0.
Can anyone offer any explanation as to what may have gone wrong, has my old faithful 3GS just had enough or is it something that I could have done to "bugger it up".
All ideas or explanations appreciated.

So Melopez.........am I hearing you right???
If Apple have provided their customers with Software that, basically "buggers up their phones", what are they doing about it.
Surely we could be making some sort of claim against them.................I now have an iPhone 3GS that's only use is as a door stop, or maybe a paperweight (as a result of their so say, software bug). On the last occassion that I synced my 3GS I was informed that there was an update, so I updated it. There was nothing on this update saying "if you are the owner of a 3GS, IOS 5 is not compatible with this software, so our advice to you as a loyal customer of ours is do not update your phone as you won't be able to use it afterwards". Too much to ask for really!!

Iphone 3G operational without sim card

Hi
I'm about to upgrade my O2 xda to iphone 3G, however was wondering if at the end of the O2 contract when I upgrade to another new phone, will the iphone 3G still operate as an ipod/pda without the phone functionailty. (ie.without a functioning sim card inside).
Thanks
Kiran

i haven't tried taking mine out, but I've locked it with a PIN, and all non cell network functions work, including Wi-Fi (but not localization).
Message was edited by: modular747

HT1414 iphone 3GS not seeing SIM card

I have a 3GS iphone and it will not see the sim card installed. The sim works in other phones.

See this support document for help with SIM errors. http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4148

Ipad1 with WLAN and 3G but WLAN does not work without SIM Card

I do have that Problem too.
Ipad1 with 3G and WLAN.
But... I do not have a SIM Card. I only use my home WLAN.
I am sure WLAN works and is correct installed (I did the same to my iphone and it works there), AND I can controll my Samsung TV with the Ipad, which only works when both use the same WLAN. So it is installed perfect for sure.
But: when I use safari it shows the URL, but than says there is no connection possible.
Why this?
Do I have to install a SIM Card? How is that? I did not mention to do.
My iOS Software is 5. something (the newest that was possible) since this was a original iPad, never used before.
I installed it with iTunes. iTunes says that the connetction failed BUT all my apps, music and anything else I have from my iPhone are now on the iPad.
Do not understand whats going on.
Again - sure it is on the wlan, but the iPad won´t let my out to connect the world.
Bad since I wanted to use it in the house to read/write emails and for my schedule.
please help soon.
Thanks

A blinking blue dot on a grey screen. In my opinion it doesn't work if that's all you get.
As mentioned in the above thread, there are app store apps (TrackThing, gpsCompass) that will read out your actual position, speed, direction, in numbers, so you can see where you are on a map. (You remember maps? those quaint old world methods of finding where you are?).
This is quite useful in the back country, where cell signals may not reach. I've used gps Compass in the mountains where there was no cell signal. In my case it took about 2 minutes to find the satellites the first time but after that it was very fast.
Its not a substitute for a Garmin, but with a paper map you can still find exactly where you are, and were you are going.
(If you don't know how to navigate with maps, compass, and longitude/latitude numbers, you probably don't belong where there are no cell signals.)

Iphone 3GS cannot detect SIM card

Hi My iphone 3GS cannot detect the SIM card.
The phone shows full bar for service provider but 3G unable. It cannot receive incoming calls and make outgoing calls.

I am assuming you updated to version 5.1.1, not 5.0.1 since no legitimate version of 5.0.1 is available.
Where is this iPhone from and what means did you use to unlock it?

Does gps work without sim card?

hello everyone..
im just having problems with my gps while my sim card is not inserted into my iphone..
even ipod touch's can find locations but my phone cant find me on maps when i dont have my sim card in it..
is this normal?

A blinking blue dot on a grey screen. In my opinion it doesn't work if that's all you get.
As mentioned in the above thread, there are app store apps (TrackThing, gpsCompass) that will read out your actual position, speed, direction, in numbers, so you can see where you are on a map. (You remember maps? those quaint old world methods of finding where you are?).
This is quite useful in the back country, where cell signals may not reach. I've used gps Compass in the mountains where there was no cell signal. In my case it took about 2 minutes to find the satellites the first time but after that it was very fast.
Its not a substitute for a Garmin, but with a paper map you can still find exactly where you are, and were you are going.
(If you don't know how to navigate with maps, compass, and longitude/latitude numbers, you probably don't belong where there are no cell signals.)

3g iPhone into iTouch without sim card

I am repurposing my wife's iPhone 3g to an iTouch for my kids. When I went to restore, it asks for a sim card. I don't have the sim card anymore. Is it possible to get past this point without one?

All iPhones (except CDMA iPhones) require a SIM card to activate. It does not have to be an active SIM, but if the phone is carrier locked, it must be from the correct carrier.

Restoring iPhone 2g 8gb without SIM card

I recently changed over to the 3G iPhone and am going to sell my 2g. I took the SIM card out of it before I restored it, which may have been a mistake. Now it won't let me get to the main screen of the iPhone without activating the service through AT&T again. I don't want to do this, because my service is already activated through AT&T on my 3G. Is it fine to sell like this without a sim card? Or what do I need to do to get things back to the way they were?

Need a sim in the iPhone. It does not have to be an
active sim; but if the iPhone is locked to a wireless
provider, the sim does have to be from that wireless provider.

Wil iPhone 3GS work without SIM card?

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