iPhone XR iPhone XR....stupid question.

[steelhauler34]

I apologize if this is a dumb question showing my lack of knowledge . Looking at an xr directly from the Apple store. My carrier is Verizon but it seems I should buy an unlocked or what they call sim free. I’m confused by that last term. Do the unlocked versions literally not use a SIM card or is it they just don’t come from Apple with an activated sim and I would just use my current Verizon sim in it? If it doesn’t use one how do you get it working?

 

[Nolander07]

You would just place your current sim in the new phone.

 

[edhchoe]

I apologize if this is a dumb question showing my lack of knowledge . Looking at an xr directly from the Apple store. My carrier is Verizon but it seems I should buy an unlocked or what they call sim free. I’m confused by that last term. Do the unlocked versions literally not use a SIM card or is it they just don’t come from Apple with an activated sim and I would just use my current Verizon sim in it? If it doesn’t use one how do you get it working?

If you buy verizon phone, you can take the sim card out of your current Xr and stick that in the new phone and it will work. If you decide to leave verizon and go to a different carrier like T-Mobile, first you would have to pay off the phone if you owe anything on it. And you have to request Verizon to unlock it for you. And T-mobile will be able to activate it on their network.

If you buy unlocked sim free phone, you can take the sim card out of your current Xr and stick that in the new phone and it will work. If you decide to leave verizon and go to a different carrier like T-mobile, you can get T-mobile sim card and T-mobile can activate your phone on their network.