Today’s the day you at long last made the last payment on your iPhone and that bad boy's eventually all yours. So you’re able to use it while traveling in another country with a domestic SIM card and have the freedom to swap networks as you want, right? Don’t start booking your flight to Aruba or running to Sprint just yet since, unfortunately, it’s not quite that straight-forward.
So as to prevent somebody from switching to a competitor’s network before they’ve paid off their iPhone or fulfilled their contract, loads of carriers put a lock (sometimes known as a network lock) on their smartphones. This inevitably ensures that you, or whoever you sell your second hand iPhone to, are stuck with them for the long term. If you’re thinking this sounds like a fairly dysfunctional partnership, we’d tend to agree with you. Thankfully, with a bit of effort and an account in good order, you can be well on your way to a carrier-unlocked iPhone in no time!
Before we continue, a quick note on the kind of unlocks that are available, and the one's you should stay away from! There is software on the market that offer the capability to unlock your cellphone yourself, but they require you to jailbreak your smartphone, and this is a dumb move, for many reasons. You can do your own investigating into jail-breaking, but it's fraught with danger, and not recommended. The easiest way to unlock your iPhone is simply by speaking directly with your network provider. The journey to a carrier-unlocked iPhone hinges largely on your network, with the process being either fairly quick and painless or painfully difficult. To get you one step closer to a life free from carrier-locked tyranny, we put together all the steps in order to obtain an iPhone unlock in this comprehensive guide. Please be aware that even though this was written with iPhone owners in mind, much of the advice can easily be carried over to other smartphones.
As noted earlier, when you purchase an iPhone or any other smartphone from a cellular carrier, that mobile phone will still only function on that individual network unless you either request to have your service provider unlock it or your carrier automatically unlocks it for you (read more about that later). Also called a SIM unlock, factory unlock, or network unlock, carrier unlocking means removing a network’s restrictions on a device, allowing you to use it with a different cellular provider.
Thankfully, not every iPhone need to be unlocked. For example, if you buy your iPhone directly from Apple and pay it off in full, it should be unlocked and able to use with a variety of carriers.
Please be aware, however, that not all phones purchased outright from third-party retailers are automatically unlocked. In particular, although sold as “unlocked”, smartphone's bought at Best Buy are in fact considered universal. So, whenever you insert a Sim for the first time, the phone will essentially lock itself to the service provider associated with the Sim. Then, since certain networks like T-Mobile may only unlock your iPhone if you bought it directly from them, you could potentially end up with an permanently network-locked device. Put simply, you find yourself paying factory-unlocked prices for a carrier-locked cellphone.
Possessing a carrier-unlocked iPhone comes with its fair share of perks which include the freedom to operate on (almost) any network within the US and abroad as well as higher second-hand values.
Even when you don’t intend on switching carriers or going overseas in the near future, unlocking your iPhone is still a good idea. If you plan on trading in your old iPhone if you upgrade, you’ll more often than not get more money for it if the iPhone is carrier unlocked because of a greater interest in them in the resale marketplace.
No! Due to the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2014, all US-based cellular providers have to allow customers to unlock their phones. However, the circumstances under which a provider will unlock a smartphone vary greatly from carrier to carrier. In general, nearly all providers require you to complete your contract, pay for your financial obligations in full, or at best have an account in good standing before they’ll let you unlock your iPhone.
Before beginning the phone-unlocking process, you’ll first need to check if your iPhone has already been unlocked (no sense in enduring the hassle if you don’t absolutely need to). All you have to do is ensure that you’re connected to WiFi and insert a brand-new SIM card from a different service provider and your smartphone will do the rest automatically. This confirmation check generally takes less than a minute to finish as soon as a new SIM has been inserted.
Through the verification procedure, you’ll note that your iPhone will boot to a white screen and attempt to verify that it has been unlocked with your network. If Apple verify that your iPhone is IMEI-unlocked, it will go back to the home screen and signal bars will appear from the new carrier. However, if a white screen appears that says SIM Not Supported, your phone has not been unlocked.
Once you determine that your cell phone is definitely locked to your current network provider, next you will need to start looking at your provider’s unlocking eligibility conditions. Should your iPhone meet those guidelines, you can ask them if the device can be unlocked from their network. As suggested previously, both the eligibility requirements and the unlocking process vary from provider to provider. Each has been outlined below for the major carriers including Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.
Please be aware that, as long as you’ve met the unlock conditions and so are completing the network-unlocking directly with your carrier, requesting that your iPhone be unlocked is often absolutely free. If you use a third party unlocking service provider, you'll be charged, but using a 3rd party service is going to be your only option if you bought the phone pre-owned. Before you spend money unnecessarily, try using the directions outlined below beforehand.
When factory-unlocking your iPhone, you'll need to supply your service provider your cell phones IMEI number. This unique, 15-digit identifier is essentially your cellphone’s VIN or social security number. To find your IMEI, on your phone, go to Settings > General > About and search to the bottom section where you will see it displayed next to IMEI.
Additionally you can search for the IMEI number on the mobile phone housing itself. For older iPhone models (6, 6 Plus, 1st-generation SE, 5s, 5c, 5), the IMEI number may also be written on the back or the SIM tray.
Once you’ve located the IMEI, it highly advisable that you store it someplace for safekeeping.
Unlocking your iPhone from AT&T is about as easy as A-B-C. Just run on across to the AT&T website, answer a few questions, and you’re well on your way to IMEI-unlocked freedom.
Once you submit your request, use your IMEI and request reference numbers to review your AT&T unlock status. After you obtain your validation text or email, just open it up then click on the verification link. That’s it! AT&T will unlock your iPhone within a couple of business days.
For any iPhone to get unlocked from AT&T, it has to satisfy the following requirements:
If the iPhone is part of a term agreement or installment plan, it requires to also meet these requirements:
For precise eligibility conditions, click here.
Based on when you purchased your phone and if it has got SIM-unlock capabilities, there are a several different unlock choices. If you purchased a new iPhone from Sprint after February 2015 (it should be SIM-unlock capable) and it is actively being used on their network, Sprint should unlock it automatically after it meets their qualifications requirements. So, you honestly don’t need to do anything at all besides keep your account in good order. However, if your iPhone is inactive or was purchased prior to February 2015, you’ll have to get in touch with Sprint Customer Care directly to ask for an unlock (either dial *2 on your Sprint phone or ring 888-211-4727).
There are reports from some Sprint customers that the auto-unlock program does not always perform as it needs to, so it’s undoubtedly a good idea to check that your iPhone is unlocked before trying to move to another service or advertising your iPhone as unlocked, if you intend to sell it to a buyback company or on craigs list.
In order for an iPhone to get unlocked from the Sprint network, it has to fulfill the following requirements:
If your iPhone is part of a service agreement, lease agreement, or installment plan, it's got to also meet these requirements:
For in-depth eligibility conditions, click here.
If your reading this and own an Android phone and your device meets the eligibility prerequisites, consider yourself in luck: You can actually unlock it directly from the phone itself. For the iPhone owners out there, you’ll need to get in touch with T-Mobile’s Team of Experts directly (either dial 611 from a T-Mobile iPhone, call 877-746-0909.
For an iPhone to be unlocked from the T-Mobile network, it has got to adhere to the following prerequisites:
If the iPhone is part of a postpaid plan, it must also adhere to the following prerequisites:
For detailed eligibility prerequisites, click here.
Verizon is, hands down, the leading service provider to work with for unlocking an iPhone. Why? Because Verizon will automatically unlock your phone 60 days after the purchase of the handset. If you purchased your iPhone from a retail partner, it'll be unlocked automatically Sixty days after device activation.
There are no catches. You don’t have to pay off your phone, meet any special conditions, or even contact them to request to unlock your phone from their network. Provided that your iPhone hasn’t been reported stolen or lost, merely wait eight weeks after purchase or activation and your phone will be all set.
Hard to believe? Just click here.
Back many years ago, you’d need to hook your iPhone to iTunes and perform a software restore to complete the unlock procedure. Thankfully, it’s much easier these days. All you need to do is go through same steps you followed earlier to verify whether your phone is unlocked in the first place.
When you don’t have access to a SIM card from another carrier, you may still confirm that your iPhone has been unlocked by performing iTunes software restore. Simply connect your iPhone to a computer running iTunes and click the “restore” option. After the restoration process has completed, you will see a message stating “Congratulations, your iPhone has been unlocked.”
Congratulations! You successfully network-unlocked your iPhone! Which means you're able to use whatever carrier you would like to now, right? We hate to break this to you, but no. As a result of two different kinds of networks deployed in the US, GSM and CDMA, your choice of cell phone providers is dependent upon the type of your iPhone and the original carrier it was locked to. Primarily, Verizon and Sprint are CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) networks, while AT&T, T-Mobile, and the majority of providers abroad are GSM (Global System for Mobiles) networks.
As you may have guessed, both these different network types do not talk to each other (because that would be too easy). Thankfully, as we approach world wide 5G access and as older networks are phased out, this will hopefully no longer be a problem.
To discover which networks you can access determined by these two factors, continue reading.
GSM networks only (AT&T, T-Mobile, international GSM carriers): Original iPhone, iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X
Any carrier worldwide: iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone SE, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max
International networks only: iPhone 4s and iPhone 5
Any carrier worldwide: iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone SE, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max
GSM networks only (AT&T, T-Mobile, international GSM carriers): Original iPhone, iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X
Any carrier worldwide: iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone SE, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max
Compatible with any carrier in the world, but with limitations when using GSM networks: iPhone 4s, iPhone 5
Any carrier worldwide: iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone SE, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max
You got it! After your phone has been IMEI-unlocked, it's going to stay like that for the life of the handset. You can restore your iPhone or up-date software without having to worry about your unlock disappearing afterwards.
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