How to Activate Your Verizon iPhone 6

If you’re lucky enough to have received an iPhone 6 at any point in the last couple of weeks or have one that’s on the way, you’re probably wondering how to activate it at home. After all, this may be the first time that you’ll be activating an iPhone without being in a carrier store. Here’s how to activate your iPhone 6 on Verizon.

If you’re like me, you bought the iPhone 6 online to have it shipped to your front doorstep. However, if you’ve never experienced the convenience of activating a new smartphone from the comfort of your own home (and had the carrier store do it instead), then how do you do it exactly?

Surprisingly, it’s quite easy and only takes a couple of minutes, and I’ll guide you through the steps on how to get it done, just in case the instructions that come with your iPhone 6 aren’t quite clear enough.

How to Activate Your iPhone 6

When you first boot up your iPhone 6, you’ll come across the all-too-familiar iOS Setup Assistant, where it will tell you “Hello” in different languages. Make your way through the process. It’ll ask you for your language, country of residence, and tell you to connect to your home WiFi network.

Eventually, you’ll get to the activation screen where your phone number will appear. Make sure it’s your phone number and then hit Next.

The next screen will ask you to enter in your billing zip code that you use for your Verizon account, and then the last four digits of your social security number. Tap Next to go to the next step and agree to the Terms and Conditions.

You’ll soon be taken to a screen where your iPhone 6 will begin the activation process. It tells you that it could take a few minutes to activate, but it just took about a minute for me.

After the phone activates, the iOS Setup Assistant will continue from where it left off, and you’ll be asked to sign in with your Apple ID and enable or disable certain features, like Siri and Touch ID.

During the process, there’s no need to turn off your old iPhone, but it’s usually a good idea to disable iCloud and sign out of your Apple ID on your old iPhone, that way you won’t keep receiving iMessages on your old iPhone. Other than that, though, after you activate your new iPhone 6, you’ll be off to the races and can begin using it as your new iPhone.

Wiping Your Old iPhone

Naturally, once you get a new iPhone, you’ll most likely want to completely wipe your old one so that you can sell it.

We have a handy guide on how to sell your old iPhone, but before you do sell it, it’s important it’s important to erase all data from the device. Simply put, you’ll want to first disable Find My iPhone by going into the Settings app and tapping on iCloud. From there, toggle off Find My iPhone and enter in your Apple ID password to complete the process.

Then, to reset all settings and erase all the data on your old iPhone, open up the Settings app and navigate to General > Reset. There are six options to choose from, but you’ll want to select Erase All Content and Settings.

You’ll be asked to enter in your passcode, and then you’ll get a final prompt confirming the action. Tap on Erase iPhone to begin the wiping process. Let the iPhone do its thing, and if completed correctly, you’ll eventually see the iOS Setup Assistant upon startup. Your old iPhone is ready to sell, and from there, you can just shut the device off by holding down on the power button and then sliding the on-screen prompt to shut it off.