iPhone 13 mini EMEA region-locked iPhone

[theriddler]

My 2nd-hand iPhone 13 Mini says SIM locked. I believe it's EMEA region locked. I could use an e-SIM but not a physical Asian SIM card.

Is it true that I can't use non-EMEA SIMs ever?

Apple EMEA Service Locked policy (Europe/Middle East/Africa) | Phonecheck Help Center

Many large companies divide their territories into the Americas, EMEA, and the Asia Pacific. EMEA means Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

support.phonecheck.com

I used an unlocking service and the message I got from the check was, "your iPhone can not be network unlocked as the Financial Eligibility Date (FED) has not been met yet"

 

[jlc1978]

My 2nd-hand iPhone 13 Mini says SIM locked. I believe it's EMEA region locked. I could use an e-SIM but not a physical Asian SIM card.

Is it true that I can't use non-EMEA SIMs ever?

Apple EMEA Service Locked policy (Europe/Middle East/Africa) | Phonecheck Help Center

Many large companies divide their territories into the Americas, EMEA, and the Asia Pacific. EMEA means Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

support.phonecheck.com

I used an unlocking service and the message I got from the check was, "your iPhone can not be network unlocked as the Financial Eligibility Date (FED) has not been met yet"

It looks like your phone is carrier locked. The original owner may have financed it through a carrier. That generally results in a locked phone for some specified period of time; once that is over they should have had the carrier unlock the phone. Then any SIM will work.

It's possible they sold they phone before they finished the contract term.

You might try contacting the original carrier to see if they can unlock it.

 

[Cruncher]

It can be locked to a carrier and not to a region. Samsung did that with the regions years ago.

Go to your "Settings -> General -> About" and check the Lock status there. What does it say under "Carrier Lock"?

 

[theriddler]

It's the contract date?

It says Network Provider Lock. "This device might be restricted to the original network provider and/or have certain capabilities limited. Contact your provider for more info."

 

[theriddler]

Right, I unlocked it in seconds with my own network provider (it happened to be the same network as the original contract). Those paid unlocking websites' provider lookup couldn't determine the network provider and claimed it was EMEA-locked.

Hope it helps others who stumble upon my thread on Google

unlock-an-ee-device-to-use-with-another-network