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iPhone Can I unlock my jailbroken Sprint phone?

E

eepmatt

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 10, 2013
3
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I have an iPhone 5 on Sprint. It's currently jailbroken, but not unlocked, running 6.1. Sprint has approved its unlocking, but is telling me that in order to actually unlock the phone, I have to back it up to iTunes, reset it to factory defaults, then restore the backup. Sprint also says that this will update the software to 6.1.4, which I obviously don't want to do.

So am I stuck between choosing to have my phone jailbroken or unlocked, but not both?
 
Hope you know that the Sprint iphone unlock is for international GSM use only.
It will NOT work inside the US with any other carrier.
If that's all you care about you don't need to restore. Once you stick in a foreign sim when you're outside the US the phone will just bring you to the activation screen and within seconds the GSM sim will work without the need for a restore.
 
Yes, I only care about international.

So because the phone is jailbroken, I can put an international SIM in it without having to go through the unlock process?
 
eepmatt said:
Yes, I only care about international.

So because the phone is jailbroken, I can put an international SIM in it without having to go through the unlock process?
Click to expand...

Yes, even if it was stock you don't need to do the whole restore process.
Just pop in the new sim, connect to wifi and the iphone will activate with the new carrier sim card.
 
Is there a technical reason why Sprint cant/wont unlock for other USA carriers?

Seems selfish if I have paid my contract off...no? Im guessing there must be a technical reason.
 
Mrg02d said:
Is there a technical reason why Sprint cant/wont unlock for other USA carriers?

Seems selfish if I have paid my contract off...no? Im guessing there must be a technical reason.
Click to expand...

No technical reason, just so you wont take it and use it on other US carriers.
Its the same phone as the Verizon i5 with just a limitation put there by Sprint.
 
Applejuiced said:
No technical reason, just so you wont take it and use it on other US carriers.
Its the same phone as the Verizon i5 with just a limitation put there by Sprint.
Click to expand...

Yea, I thought i noticed a SIM in my phone...So this is just BS from Sprint? I cant believe thats legal?!

I guess lawyers would have already bit them a new one if there werent laws allowing this...:mad:
 
every carrier does it in the US it keeps you from going to another carrier easily. As long as you are under contract it is technically their property. So you really don't have much of a case. even still many carriers have it that terms and conditions contract you agreed to when you got your phone.
 
So if sprint refuses to unlock my phone, but I want to use it internationally, all I need to do is jailbreak it?
 
susanp28 said:
So if sprint refuses to unlock my phone, but I want to use it internationally, all I need to do is jailbreak it?
Click to expand...
As mentioned above, you don't need to.

Jailbreaking. Unlocking. Two totally different things.

Jailbreaking allows you install non-Apple approved apps and modifications to your iPhone. Unlocking simply allows your iPhone to be used on a non-Sprint network that can support it.

There may be a unofficial process that unlocks your iPhone from Sprint's network that requires your iPhone to be jailbroken, but I can't point one out as this has never been a concern of mine.

Sprint may refuse to unlock for international use because you don't meet the requirements.

You must be a Sprint customer with your bill paid on time for at least 90 days. That is the minimum requirement. And again, any official Sprint unlock will be for international use only.
 
Sprint is soo hard to unlock. I can confirm this. Only regular Sprint customers can unlock its iPhones (which is actually useless, because they can use it locked). They were extremely clever making this policy. But also extremely dumb thinking of the ecology. How ecologic is it to have a locked iPhone that you can't use?

Not to mention the thing that when you unlock it it can't be used in the US lol.
 
FlyUnlock.com said:
Sprint is soo hard to unlock. I can confirm this. Only regular Sprint customers can unlock its iPhones (which is actually useless, because they can use it locked). They were extremely clever making this policy. But also extremely dumb thinking of the ecology. How ecologic is it to have a locked iPhone that you can't use?

Not to mention the thing that when you unlock it it can't be used in the US lol.
Click to expand...

Actually it is pretty smart as most countries outside of the USA don't support CDMA, it gives customers the chance to use there phones overseas while still binding them to Sprint.

If overseas you can use any local prepaid SIM. Compare that to AT&T and Tmobile were it is locked anywhere and have use your own SIM when overseas and incur expensive roaming charges.
 
TriJetHero said:
Actually it is pretty smart as most countries outside of the USA don't support CDMA, it gives customers the chance to use there phones overseas while still binding them to Sprint.

If overseas you can use any local prepaid SIM. Compare that to AT&T and Tmobile were it is locked anywhere and have use your own SIM when overseas and incur expensive roaming charges.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the problem here though is that the default state of the iPhone is being locked to Sprint. Only after you fulfill the requirements for the unlock and unlock the phone, then you will be SIMlock free for the carriers outside the US. It would be smart if every customer got the phone in this "unlocked" state already. And the unlock would make it usable for US carriers (after fulfilling whatever conditions set by Sprint) ... IMHO
 
TMobile Supports Sprint Iphone 5

It's on their site. When I asked them how to get it over to T-Mobile, they said I have to have Sprint unlock it. When I mentioned the line about only international, they basically said BS. Unlock is unlock, there is no international only. Sprint just wants you to THINK you can't use it here.
 
NuttBoxer said:
It's on their site. When I asked them how to get it over to T-Mobile, they said I have to have Sprint unlock it. When I mentioned the line about only international, they basically said BS. Unlock is unlock, there is no international only. Sprint just wants you to THINK you can't use it here.
Click to expand...

Yeah ok.
Sounds like you talked to a clueless Tmobile rep.
Stick a tmobile sim in and see how far you get.
An unlock is not always an unlock. Sprints iphone unlock is ONLY for international GSM use.
 
Applejuiced said:
Yeah ok.
Sounds like you talked to a clueless Tmobile rep.
Stick a tmobile sim in and see how far you get.
An unlock is not always an unlock. Sprints iphone unlock is ONLY for international GSM use.
Click to expand...

Check the T-Mobile site. If you put something like that where people can read it and you're a huge corporation, you'd have to be an idiot if it wasn't true.

Sprint rep sends a request to Apple to unlock my phone, you think Apple really keeps a different unlock list per carrier? Or even more absurd, a international vs domestic DB...

I will update as soon as I find someone with a sim to try. In the meantime, stop sounding like a corporate tool.
 
NuttBoxer said:
It's on their site. When I asked them how to get it over to T-Mobile, they said I have to have Sprint unlock it. When I mentioned the line about only international, they basically said BS. Unlock is unlock, there is no international only. Sprint just wants you to THINK you can't use it here.
Click to expand...

AWESOME!

Report back to us on how far you get with this!

/sarcasm
 
NuttBoxer said:
I will update as soon as I find someone with a sim to try.
Click to expand...

Walk into a T-Mobile store today and have the rep stick his/her sim into your "unlocked" Sprint phone ....

It will not work, no way, no how.

The regular members of this forum have been here for years and these factoids about Sprint unlocking come from thousands of experiences.

Regardless of what T-Mobile puts on their website, Sprint only unlocks their handsets for International sims, not US carriers.
 
Last edited:
What you might have read on the T-mobile site is their standard reply in the community section, an unlocked phone can be used by the t-mobile network.

It is technically possible to unlock a Sprint phone, but Sprint currently offers only international unlocks not domestic.
They might change their policy but currently there is no official way to unlock a sprint phone for the domestic carriers.

Nice reading on the same subject.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1571452/
 
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NuttBoxer said:
Check the T-Mobile site. If you put something like that where people can read it and you're a huge corporation, you'd have to be an idiot if it wasn't true.

Sprint rep sends a request to Apple to unlock my phone, you think Apple really keeps a different unlock list per carrier? Or even more absurd, a international vs domestic DB...

I will update as soon as I find someone with a sim to try. In the meantime, stop sounding like a corporate tool.
Click to expand...

Go for it.
You can do it:D lol
Newbies...
 
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