Ok, that's all I meant, you can use the phone without logging in. Yeah you need it for the App Store. Well even if the App Store let you download as guest, the real problem would be that the phone doesn't let you download from elsewhere (mostly).

There is also the ability to build code on your Mac and run on your phone without paying, but pretty sure at least one step in that requires a free account. Guess you could download, build, and run open-source apps that way.