Using an old iPhone as an iPod

[no0nefamous]

My friend gave me an old iPhone SE (2016) that still has 100% battery health. I kind of want to set it up as an iPod, WiFi only. My main phone is an iPhone 13 Pro. What's the best way to go about this? If I sign in with my Apple ID on the SE, will it make things screwy with the 13 Pro?

Alternatively, should I just create a secondary Apple ID to use with the SE?

 

[blw777]

No, you're good with just the one ID. I keep my old devices and leave them for less demanding tasks. This is the same thing except you're adding a "new" phone rather than keeping an old one, as I've been doing. Your Apple Id is easily able to keep track of all of your devices. There are plenty of folks with 4-20 devices, and I presume that there are folks out there with even more. (I have 11, after home and work phones, home and work Macbooks, a couple of old phones, a couple of old iMacs, Apple TVs, Watch, and an iPad.)

 

[zorinlynx]

Old iPhones make excellent iPods. It'll work fine, just sign in, Download whatever music you want to have on it and have at it.

I believe if you're using Apple Music it will occasionally have to check in with Apple's servers to see if you're still subscribed. No idea how often it has to do that. But downloaded music will play fine without any connection.

 

[blw777]

That still works if the phone connects on Wifi, which most folks seem to have now. You'd almost certainly need that anyway if for nothing else than getting iOS updates, but Apple Music (or any other service) as well. I'm an old phogey so most of my music is ripped from CDs or (mostly) vinyl, but I still have plenty of downloaded music, and it all works fine. Even if you're away from Wifi, you may still be able to tether the old phone to a new one that does have service.

 

[no0nefamous]

Thanks everyone!

So basically, there's no SIM installed, and I restored the phone through Finder. It isn't locked to any account. I should set it up as a new phone and not restore one of the backups of my current phone, correct? This will prevent confusion as to where to direct phone calls/texts/etc?

 

[XboxEvolved]

This is generally a move that parents do with their kids a lot. I did it with my daughter when she was younger.

 

[no0nefamous]

This is generally a move that parents do with their kids a lot. I did it with my daughter when she was younger.

They still sign the device into their own Apple ID though instead of creating another one for their kid?

 

[blw777]

You probably don't want to restore the backup of an existing phone. Think of it as another phone, except that this one doesn't have any service.

As it turns out, if you have connectivity to the world on the service-less phone, eg WiFi, you can actually use it to answer or even make calls via your main phone's service as an alternative. Just like you can answer a call via your Mac or Watch. Similarly, you can have texts to go all of your devices (if you want).

 

[XboxEvolved]

They still sign the device into their own Apple ID though instead of creating another one for their kid?

Ive done it both ways. If I did it for my child I just turned certain things off so they didn't get them.

 

[zorinlynx]

Ive done it both ways. If I did it for my child I just turned certain things off so they didn't get them.

Note that if you give a kid an iPhone as an iPod/gaming mini-tablet be aware that they can dial 911 or whatever your emergency number is, even if no SIM or service plan is installed. So make sure your kid knows not to dial 911 unless there's an actual emergency.

 

[no0nefamous]

So what I ended up doing is:

I set up the restored old phone as a new phone. I declined to sign in to Apple ID during setup. Then, when I tried to download something from the App store, I was prompted to log in to my Apple ID which did NOT log me in to iCloud. This way the phone can have the apps I want on it (and Apple Music) but not sync with my iCloud stuff.

 

[MajorFubar]

So what I ended up doing is:

I set up the restored old phone as a new phone. I declined to sign in to Apple ID during setup. Then, when I tried to download something from the App store, I was prompted to log in to my Apple ID which did NOT log me in to iCloud. This way the phone can have the apps I want on it (and Apple Music) but not sync with my iCloud stuff.

Good idea. There's a lot to be said about how Apple devices link together and sync with each other to provide a unified experience, but should you not want one of your devices to do that for some reason, it's actually harder.

 

[jav6454]

My friend gave me an old iPhone SE (2016) that still has 100% battery health. I kind of want to set it up as an iPod, WiFi only. My main phone is an iPhone 13 Pro. What's the best way to go about this? If I sign in with my Apple ID on the SE, will it make things screwy with the 13 Pro?

Alternatively, should I just create a secondary Apple ID to use with the SE?

Use your main ID on it. Also, your idea of using an old phone as an iPod is not bad, it's actually better as your main device's battery life is extended as main usage for everyday things is offloaded.