I have an unlocked iPhone 15 Plus that I'm trying to use without being connected to any cellular service—no SIM card at all. I mainly want to use it for editing purposes, but I'm having trouble logging into my Apple account. I keep getting a message saying 'Verification Failed - Your identity couldn't be verified. Check your network connection and try again.' I thought I could use this phone similarly to an iPad and still download apps without a cellular network. Is that not the case? It's frustrating because I feel like I should be able to do this without any issues.
3 Answers
You can definitely use your iPhone as an iPod, but if you're logging in during the initial setup, try skipping that part. Once the setup is complete, go to Settings and log in from there. If you’re already set up, can you let us know what software version you’re running? That might also help track down the issue.
Make sure to turn off cellular data if you haven't already. Leaving it on can drain your battery, and it might help in avoiding the notifications about searching for a connection. But it sounds like you already tried that to no avail. Keep us posted on what’s happening!
I did turn it off, but it didn't solve the issue.
First things first, make sure you’re connected to a solid Wi-Fi network. Sometimes even if it seems like you are, there might be connectivity issues. Once you're sure about that, try logging in again. You should be able to use the phone like an iPod, but the login might trip you up if the network is shaky.
Yes, I’m connected to Wi-Fi!
I'm already set up, and it's on iOS 26.0.1. I also can't check for software updates because it says there's an error.