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Will an unlocked iPhone lock itself to the first sim card?

P

Pivoh

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 20, 2012
55
0
I have been trying to find an answer for this, apologize in advance if this has been discussed already, but I just purchased a " device only " iPhone5 at the apple store.

I would like to activate it, but I am afraid it will lock itself to AT&T when I enter my sim card , is there any risk ?

thanks in advance for any help.
 
M

Mike J

macrumors member
Mar 30, 2012
98
1
factory unlocked iPhones stay unlocked forever (unless someone from apple locks it haha)
 
G

gentlefury

macrumors 68030
Jul 21, 2011
2,866
23
Los Angeles, CA
My iPhone 5 had a bad home button and they gave me a replacement. When I got it home I restored it to my last backup and it forced me to carrier lock it....which means, I guess it was unlocked.
 
Applejuiced

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
gentlefury said:
My iPhone 5 had a bad home button and they gave me a replacement. When I got it home I restored it to my last backup and it forced me to carrier lock it....which means, I guess it was unlocked.
Click to expand...

I dont get it.
What do you mean it forced you to carrier lock it?
The lock or unlock has nothing to do with the backup file or wether you restore from backup or setup as new.
The unlock comes from Apples activation server.
 
G

gentlefury

macrumors 68030
Jul 21, 2011
2,866
23
Los Angeles, CA
Applejuiced said:
I dont get it.
What do you mean it forced you to carrier lock it?
The lock or unlock has nothing to do with the backup file or wether you restore from backup or setup as new.
The unlock comes from Apples activation server.
Click to expand...

It was activated in the store and working fine. I got home and restored it and it came up with a screen I had never seen. It said, which carrier will this phone be activated on, I had to pick Verizon and it said, be sure this is correct as it can not be undone.
 
Applejuiced

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
gentlefury said:
It was activated in the store and working fine. I got home and restored it and it came up with a screen I had never seen. It said, which carrier will this phone be activated on, I had to pick Verizon and it said, be sure this is correct as it can not be undone.
Click to expand...

That's not a carrier lock.
It just asked you what carrier will you use it on.
 
dukebound85

dukebound85

macrumors Core
Jul 17, 2005
19,131
4,110
5045 feet above sea level
you can put an att sim in your iphone and it will work. You can take it out and put a tmobile sim in and it will work. You can reinsert the att and it will work again with att

you can switch sims all day long
 
Applejuiced

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
gentlefury said:
Than why did it say this selection can not be changed?
Click to expand...

From what I heard from Apple if its a verizon replacement and they enter all the info like previous imei/esn number even if you picked sprint or VM it wouldn't lock to them.
It will still be locked to verizon and every verizon i5 is officially unlocked to work with any gsm carrier.
 
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