IMessage use without service but with Wi-Fi?

I sent my old iPhone 4S to my friend. At the moment it does not have service but he is connected to Wi-Fi.iMessage is not working and hoping anyone knows why. I used iMessage before when I had no service on the phone with Wi-Fi. I reset the phone before I sent it to him. Is there something in settings he needs to do for it to work?

Tell him to go to settings, scroll down to messages then makes sure iMessage is on.

If that doesn't work, on the same page that you can turn iMessage on and off, there's something abit below it that says send recipient, he might need to add his email there.

Since you use to use that phone, your send recipient was your cellphone number, but since it is disconnected it no longer can be used on another phone. Hope that helped.

It will work once it sets it up on the phone, imessage and facetime can both be used free over Wi-Fi or even internationally.

The only problem with activating Imessage, is that when you go to sign in, it will ask for two factor authentication, and without being able to send a text or call that phone, it will not work at all. I know because I have that same problem

  • Using iMessage on iPhone 4 without phone service? A couple months ago my phone had service, but due to it being so expensive, I had to stop paying. After it was shut off, I was still able to text my friends that I messaged before. Is there a way to message other people that use iMessage without phone service?
  • New iPhone won't get service but my older iPhone gets service? I just got a 6s and went to the Verizon store to get my upgrade. I used to have a 5s. My 5s is still getting service and my 6s is not. I turned off cellular data on my 5s and and made sure both data and LTE were working on my 6s but it still isn't working.
  • How to use iMessage on an iPhone 3g without service? I know on iPods and iPads you can use iMessage via Wi-Fi and email, but how doi do it on an iphone 3g? A friend of mine git a new iphone so he gave me his old one, and I wanted to use imessage but there's currently no cellular service
  • How to text and use iMessage on an old iPhone 4s without having to use Wi-Fi? IIm getting my phone taken away for a bit and I want to be able to still text or iMessage on an old iPhone 4s. My friend can use his old iPod to iMessage but he has to have Wi-Fi. How can I do it without having to use Wi-Fi or how can I at least set it up on my iCloud?