Many would feel the 64 Gb memory would be tight, our iPhones are 256 Gb, the ones we traded in were 128 Gb, so maybe why these went on a 33% sale… But, for those that can manage the storage, yes, a decent deal…
Just fired up my old iPad Mini2, it has all of 16 Gb! takes a while to boot up, still works, handy if I need an alternate screen, seems to hold t’s charge well… It has a cell number, but I’ve never activated it…I’d forgotten that it had it, I don’t see the Phone App, but it may be buried or not appear if not activated… iOS 12.5.7, it’s end game I think.
Phone App on an iPad? Which one? I know there’s Google Voice.
Well, my iPad Mini2 has a number & cellular abilities, that I never used, so there should be a phone icon somewhere, maybe I deleted it, don’t remember… Normally would be in the Dock or at least the Home page…
Ok, right. So you actually got a plan with a phone number exclusive to the iPad? My understanding was that the cellular connection just allows you to be connected anywhere, but data only, even though the connection is via cellular. You could use Google Voice as the phone app both on Wi-Fi and on cellular, but you’d have a unique Google Voice phone number. Apple doesn’t make a phone app for the iPad that I know of. I found this, but since all my iPads are wifi only, I’m not an expert:
Make and receive phone calls on iPad
You can make and receive calls on your iPad by using Wi-Fi Calling to relay phone calls through your iPhone (iOS 9 or later required).
Cellular charges might apply. Wi-Fi Calling isn’t available from all carriers.
Important: Wi-Fi + Cellular models do not support cellular phone service—they support cellular data transmission only. To make phone calls on any iPad model, you need to use Wi-Fi Calling and an iPhone.
Interesting, I’d assumed it could make it’s own calls without Wifi, so I’ve left it in Airplane mode and shut off all cellular data use. If I linked it to my Verizon account, they’d be hitting me for an additional device, whatever that charge would be… So that phone number even unused is locked up, unavailable to other users… So there must be many others, also tied up.
My Xfinity account also has a number, part of a triple play plan that I don’t use, gave back their modem that allows the phone, rather than pay rent, save that monthly fee. That number is also locked up… So for the two of us, we use two numbers on our iPhones, but there sits two more, never to be used… Kinda crazy…
I just dumped our landline, freed it up after60 years! All it was, was a seamer collector, but we kept it for E911 service, but it became more of an irritation, for $50/mo… Gone…
Right. Here’s a clearer explanation from How to Find Your Phone Number on an iPad in 2 Ways
- You can find your phone number on your iPad in two different ways.
- If you have an iPad that has Wi-Fi + Cellular, it has a phone number associated with the SIM card – you cannot place a voice call to this number, since it is a data-only plan, but you can find it in the Settings app’s About section.
- Your iPad may also use your iPhone’s number for FaceTime calls if you’ve set it up, and you can check this number in the Settings app under FaceTime.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Apple offers the iPad in two flavors: Wi-Fi only, which is the more common version, and Wi-Fi + Cellular, which is more expensive, but can access the internet using a cellular data plan when there’s no Wi-Fi available.
Since the cellular version of the iPad has a SIM card and accesses the internet that way, it has a phone number assigned as well. You cannot call this number – it has no voice plan associated with it – but you can text the number.
That’s not all. Even if you have a Wi-Fi only iPad, it might have your iPhone’s number associated with it, if you set them up to work together. If your iPad is connected to your iPhone, for example, you can conduct FaceTime calls from your iPad using your iPhone’s phone number.
Also interesting, made me look, pulled the SIM card out, and sure enough, it is a Verizon Sim Card, but that makes sense as when I bought the Mini2, it was a deal, as in a good price when we stopped at a Verizon Store in New Mexico I think, after running my data plan out of it’s limits, so we set up a shared plan, and was oilers the mini2. Never tried texting to it… Maybe if I turned the cellular data back on… But I don’t want to stir that up…
But, Internationally, that might be handy, as we’ve sometimes replaced our VZ Sim with a purchased SIM from a 7/11 or other shop… London, Copenhagen, it gave us a moth’s use for ~$20 each, handy… The once headed back to the US, or on the Airporter bus, switch back to the VZ SIM…