Whenever you buy an iPhone on contract, you will usually find it is locked to a carrier. This means you won’t be able to use it with a new sim card from a different provider. Phone shops do this as a form of security, because they have usually subsidized the cost of the phone heavily, so they want to keep you using their carrier service as long as possible. However, this can be a problem if you want to change providers.
There are many reasons you might want to unlock iPhone from a carrier. It isn’t about trying to avoid the charges of your carrier – any outstanding contract payments will need to be paid, that’s a given. But there are other compelling reasons for wanting to unlock iPhone, such as:
- You might find a more suitable deal for you with another carrier who may offer cheaper, faster data or lower call charges.
- You might want to travel abroad and use a local sim to avoid the high roaming charges.
- You might want to sell your iPhone or give it away to a friend, it is often much easier to sell an unlocked iPhone.
There are so many sensible reasons why you might want to unlock iPhone and change provider, so it makes sense to find out how to do this in a legal and safe way.
How to find out if your iPhone is locked
It’s easy to figure out if your iPhone is locked or not, simply insert a new sim card into the device. If you receive a message saying ‘sim not valid’ or words to that effect, the phone is locked. Thankfully, if your iPhone is locked to AT&T, Sprint, Straight Talk, Simple Mobile, Xfinity or another US network, it’s an easy process to unlock iPhone devices.
iPhone unlocking methods
When searching for advice on how to unlock an iPhone, you might stumble upon various articles online talking about jailbreaking software. This is something to avoid. Any sort of software installation or hardware interference could cause irreparable damage to your phone.
Apple are very careful with security and maintain a complete database with all the phones they sell listed. This database contains the details of all official iPhones and your iPhone will be listed here. In order to unlock an iPhone safely and legally, you need to get it whitelisted in this database. Any other way will not be an official unlock.
If you unlock your iPhone not using an official method means not only will it invalidate your warranty, it could also be dangerous to your phone’s security and performance. Any unofficial unlock attempt will also not be permanent, so you could end up paying again in the future when the phone is re-locked after any firmware updates.
In order to unlock your iPhone officially, you need to unlock using the phone’s IMEI number. This number is the unique identifier for your iPhone. You can easily find this number by typing *#06# into the keypad.
Recommended way to unlock iPhone
We can recommend one easy, cheap way to unlock iPhone from a carrier permanently. This is using a third-party unlocking specialist called iPhone Approved Unlock. These experts can safely unlock iPhone by IMEI permanently within 24 hours. They charge from $18 for unlocking, which is cheaper and easier than asking your carrier to perform the unlock. They even work remotely, so there is no need to send your iPhone away while it’s unlocked, and you can continue to use your cell service as normal.
Unlocking iPhone with your carrier
It is possible to get your iPhone unlocked by IMEI at a carrier store. However, there are usually many criteria you need to fulfil in order to do this. For example, you will need to have been a customer with the carrier for a minimum length of time. They might also ask you to pay for the full amount of your outstanding contract up front. You might also be charged an extra fee for unlocking the phone while it is still under contract.
When asking your carrier store to unlock iPhone, you will normally need to wait a while for them to unlock it, perhaps up to one month. You could also have to send the iPhone away, so you might have to be without a phone while they perform the unlock. The whole process can be time consuming, costly and a real nuisance when all you want to do is quickly unlock your iPhone. Thankfully, there is a better way!
How to unlock iPhone 6 from any carrier
To unlock iPhone 6 from any carrier you simply need to find the IMEI number, which on this device can be found embossed on the back, then head over to iPhone Approved Unlock’s iPhone 6 unlock page and tap in the relevant details and pay, you’ll then get an email with a few instructions – all you need to do is install a new sim card into the iPhone 6 whilst on a wifi network and the unlock will be done!
How to unlock iPhone 7 from any carrier
To unlock iPhone 7 from any carrier it’s pretty much the same as iPhone 6, but the IMEI number for iPhone 7 is in the sim tray, simply pop this out and you’ll find it embossed on the metal tray. Then follow the rest of the process for the iPhone 6.
How to unlock iPhone from any carrier
Any iPhone can be unlocked just like we have demonstrated for the iPhone 6 and 7. iPhone Approved Unlock can help you. All you need to do to use their service is to give them your IMEI number – which will be located on the back of the iPhone or in the phone’s sim tray, and pay the small fee. They will then have your phone unlocked within 24 hours! This service will also leave your warranty unaffected, so your phone is still covered by Apple for any issues you might have. Unlocking an iPhone with these experts will enable you to use any sim worldwide.
