Is there a way to know if your phone is unlocked?

ame

Trusted Member
Feb 17, 2011
1,872
31
48
Visit site
I bought it from Apple directly, but I'd like to know if it's already unlocked or not. If not I'll make sure I do so before I sell it when the new phone comes out.
 

Highrisedrifter

Well-known member
Sep 19, 2012
2,999
0
0
Visit site
What country are you in? I'm in the UK and every iPhone sold by Apple is unlocked. They just do not sell iPhones locked to a carrier here at all.

If you're in the US, then only you'd know what phone you bought and whether it was locked to a carrier. I believe that some of them are and some of them aren't and I expect a helpful US person will be along shortly to tell you which carrier phones are a usually locked/unlocked when bought from an Apple store.
 

anon(161369)

Well-known member
Apr 2, 2013
120
0
0
Visit site
If it's a verizon model for the most part it is unlocked, the same applies to tmobile (there is no tmobile iphone) however if you purchased a sprint or ATT model you will have to call the carrier to get it unlocked


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

ame

Trusted Member
Feb 17, 2011
1,872
31
48
Visit site
Yea that would've been good to share. I know I did not pay full price on it, but it has been replaced three times by Apple (warranty) genius bar. ATT/US, bought from Apple.

I just was curious if there was a way to input your Serial or IMEI to find out, so that I knew in advance and could go through the process if I needed to.
 

BreakingKayfabe

Well-known member
Sep 12, 2008
8,442
53
48
Visit site
Yea that would've been good to share. I know I did not pay full price on it, but it has been replaced three times by Apple (warranty) genius bar. ATT/US, bought from Apple.

I just was curious if there was a way to input your Serial or IMEI to find out, so that I knew in advance and could go through the process if I needed to.

If you bought it from Apple at a subsidized price for AT&T then it isn't unlocked. No matter how many warranty exchanges you've had. If you bought it from Apple at full price, even for AT&T, it's unlocked. If the site I linked doesn't work, you'll automatically know if it's unlocked or not if you restore the phone to new on iTunes. When it reboots it will show a message that the phone is unlocked.

http://iphoneimei.info
 

ame

Trusted Member
Feb 17, 2011
1,872
31
48
Visit site
In the Sim Locked it says UNKNOWN, so my guess is that it's not unlocked. I figured not with subsidy but I've gotten unlocked ones in the past even with subsidy. When I buy the 6 Ill get this unlocked before I sell.

Good to know. I am buying the 6 full price, and likely selling this, unless my husband's 4 dies and he needs a replacement. (he does not want a phone at all...)
 

Peligro911

Well-known member
Jun 1, 2011
5,878
136
0
Visit site
If it's a verizon model for the most part it is unlocked, the same applies to tmobile (there is no tmobile iphone) however if you purchased a sprint or ATT model you will have to call the carrier to get it unlocked


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Are u sure about the tmobile thing I just had to have them unlock a 5c and even had to hook to iTunes to get the unlock message


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

anon(161369)

Well-known member
Apr 2, 2013
120
0
0
Visit site
Are u sure about the tmobile thing I just had to have them unlock a 5c and even had to hook to iTunes to get the unlock message


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes I'm in tmobile and when I went to purchase the phone at the apple store was informed about this, this relates to the bands , you can get it unlocked in the manner you stated but it's getting LTE that I'm not sure is supported on certain iPhones for certain carriers


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Peligro911

Well-known member
Jun 1, 2011
5,878
136
0
Visit site
Yes I'm in tmobile and when I went to purchase the phone at the apple store was informed about this, this relates to the bands , you can get it unlocked in the manner you stated but it's getting LTE that I'm not sure is supported on certain iPhones for certain carriers


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's strange because I had to have it submitted to be unlocked and had to took to iTunes etc to get the message to have it unlocked .. Unlike my Verizon phone that is unlocked from the start .. If tmobile was the same I shouldn't have had to do all that..maybe now it actually unlocked it supports LTE on the other carriers idk


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

anon(52425)

Well-known member
Mar 1, 2009
1,508
11
0
Visit site
If it's a verizon model for the most part it is unlocked, the same applies to tmobile (there is no tmobile iphone) however if you purchased a sprint or ATT model you will have to call the carrier to get it unlocked


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not true. Both iPhone 5S's that I bought from T-Mobile have been locked.
 

jburke82

Well-known member
Mar 6, 2012
973
1
18
Visit site
When I sold my 5 with att, it was very easy to unlock. There is just an online form to submit which I found easily on gazelle.


Sent from my iPhone 5s
 

anon(4698833)

Banned
Sep 7, 2010
12,010
187
0
Visit site
You can just find out if your iPhone is unlocked or not, here --> Check IMEI - IMEI.info

That website hasn't worked (for free) for ages...it gives an error message claiming the service is "temporarily" unavailable, but it's just a push to try and get you to sign up for their paid "Pro" service. Total scam...

If you want to know if your phone is unlocked, the easiest way is to pop another SIM into it from a different carrier and see if it works...if you don't have that available to you, doing a backup to your phone and restoring it IN iTunes will also give you an "unlocked" congratulatory message after the restore is complete (this is a bit extreme in my opinion but some people are just that curious).

If it were me, and I really needed to know and did not have a SIM available to me...I'd just go to a different carrier store and try one of their test SIM's. This will give you a quick answer...
 

dcharleyultra

Well-known member
Jun 6, 2013
163
0
0
Visit site
Rancid, that page doesn't appear to be accurate to me. For example, the Verizon phone can be used on AT&T and T-Mobile - at least that is what the Apple Store told me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

OBF

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2014
387
0
16
Visit site
What if your phone doesn't have the IMEI/ESN on back of the phone? Is that a way to determine if it's unlocked?
 

Ledsteplin

Ambassador
Oct 2, 2013
50,102
688
108
Visit site
Rancid, that page doesn't appear to be accurate to me. For example, the Verizon phone can be used on AT&T and T-Mobile - at least that is what the Apple Store told me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Verizon phones are GSM-Unlocked. You can't use it on Sprint.


Sent from my ancient but trustworthy iPhone 5
 

Trending Posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
259,863
Messages
1,764,770
Members
441,208
Latest member
janikhan1234