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Sprint Automatic Domestic SIM Unlock WIKI
- Thread starter eyoungren
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Post #1 edited to reflect new Sprint unlock requirement. A Sprint device MUST be active OR have BEEN active on Sprint for no LESS than 50 DAYS before Sprint will unlock.
No more buying at full price and flipping Sprint phones! No more buying at full price with the intent to leave for a different carrier.
And if you are selling an older but still DSU qualified device it must have been active for 50 days before Sprint will unlock it either for you or any person you sell it to. Which means if it has not been active for 50 days either you or the buyer must activate it on Sprint UNTIL it meets the requirement before Sprint will unlock it.
No more buying at full price and flipping Sprint phones! No more buying at full price with the intent to leave for a different carrier.
And if you are selling an older but still DSU qualified device it must have been active for 50 days before Sprint will unlock it either for you or any person you sell it to. Which means if it has not been active for 50 days either you or the buyer must activate it on Sprint UNTIL it meets the requirement before Sprint will unlock it.
So you WERE successful with getting a DSU without ANY of the previous customers information? I'm looking for help unlocking two iPhone 4S but it's literally not even close to a possibility of finding or even knowing who the phones previously belonged to. Any help from someone that's still alive from this thread?
They won't unlock the 4s. On their chart for unlocks the 4s is listed (along with the 5) as receiving an MSL code. Which is another way of saying "no unlock" because iDevices have no ability to use MSL codes.
Purchase a unlock service on eBay ($25-$60) or search this forum for a reputable seller. If you want to unlock them for free by Sprint, it sounds like you are out of luck.
Well that's unfortunate and not really worth it at all. I've already contemplated that route and it's not feasible. If only I had the same access to these unlocking "servers" that all these eBay sellers with terribly broken English do. If anyone cares, IMO it's just outsourced Sprint CSR's in The Philippines (or god knows where) that are just extorting the system "server" they work on. While also very sneakily taking advantage of Sprints child-like inability to let go of devices that are otherwise going to end up a harm to the environment being rendered useless and thrown into a landfill. They should just follow Verizon's footsteps and bulk unlock all old devices at once like they did with their 4S's.
Updated Post#1 to reflect that it is possible to fully unlock a Sprint iPhone 5.
I got a replacement for a swollen battery, informed the Apple genius that I was no longer with Sprint, and I was given the option to select the carrier (either Sprint or Verizon) during set up. I chose Verizon, which because of the FCC agreement means all Verizon LTE devices are fully unlocked. This activation policy was then applied and my Sprint iPhone 5 fully accepted my T-Mobile SIM.
A restore in iTunes confirmed the unlock.
So, despite Sprint's years long refrain that a Sprint iPhone 5 cannot be fully unlocked due to 'technical difficulties' it seems they are wrong. It can.
I got a replacement for a swollen battery, informed the Apple genius that I was no longer with Sprint, and I was given the option to select the carrier (either Sprint or Verizon) during set up. I chose Verizon, which because of the FCC agreement means all Verizon LTE devices are fully unlocked. This activation policy was then applied and my Sprint iPhone 5 fully accepted my T-Mobile SIM.
A restore in iTunes confirmed the unlock.
So, despite Sprint's years long refrain that a Sprint iPhone 5 cannot be fully unlocked due to 'technical difficulties' it seems they are wrong. It can.
That would be true but the only thing is that your replacement iPhone 5 had not been sent an carrier lock code prior to being boxed up and made into a "replacement". I've done send-in repairs with Sprint iPhones and stated the carrier was Sprint when they still made you choose that option (Select a Carrier). In return they send you unactivated non carrier locked phones with a list to choose from at the start up menu. Whatever carrier you click, the magic then happens where Apple gets a carrier lock sent to the device OTA. Which has always been confusing to me, I guess if you had access..you could unlock any apple iphone without the carriers consent. Or maybe it isn't possible
The option to choose which carrier was presented to me for the first time regarding this phone. The Apple genius did not select it on her own this time.
By my selecting Verizon as the carrier I bound the phone to Verizon's activation policy - which in the case of LTE enabled devices is for those devices to be unlocked. The phone is an A1429 which is the Sprint/Verizon model.
By virtue then of choosing Verizon's activation policy my formerly Sprint iPhone 5 was fully unlocked. Essentially, I was allowed to choose whether I wanted a Sprint iPhone 5 or a Verizon iPhone 5. I chose Verizon.
Had I chosen Sprint or had Sprint chosen for me, it would have followed Sprint's activation policy and would have permanently relocked to Sprint.
It all comes down to the activation policy that the carrier has with Apple. That determines what is OTA communicated to the phone from the iTunes servers.
What I don't understand is how an iPhone 5 or 4S that had an activation policy with Sprint can't be used in the States once unlocked. If they're the same model iphone 5 (a1429) and Verizon's activation policy let's it work on any cell frequency anywhere in the world , why wouldn't it be the same once unlocked for Sprint? There's no difference in hardware. I don't get it, I hate Sprint.
Because Sprint's activation policy only allows for an international unlock.
Apple's iTunes servers can issue different activation policies. When Sprint started to sell the iPhone 5 two year contracts were still the norm. So, their activation policy with Apple allowed for an international unlock but not a full unlock (domestic and international).
I can only guess that Sprint's 'technical difficulties' relates to the activation policy for the domestic part. Originally, in order to get LTE on a Sprint iPhone 5 the SIM had to be paired with the IMEI of the device itself. If you put in a different domestic SIM (including a different Sprint SIM) the SIM serial number was changed and thus you had no pairing and no LTE.
Once you choose Sprint as the carrier the process is probably not reversable. Sprint's own systems have the SIM card for the iPhone 5 as different than the one for the 5c and above. Totally different SKU.
I am just guessing here based on what's happened.
Unlocking my Sprint IPhone 7+ called sprint 48 hours latter they called back and said my iPhone was domestically and internationally unlocked , so I called AppleCare to confirm and was told to back up my phone wipe it clean then restore it , then they verified it was unlocked!
However itunes or the settings menu gives me no confirmation how do I know for sure it's unlocked??????
Thank you
However itunes or the settings menu gives me no confirmation how do I know for sure it's unlocked??????
Thank you
You insert a different SIM and if you are asked for your Apple ID or the phone activates you know it's unlocked.
If you get anything else, such as 'Invalid SIM' or problems activating then the phone is still locked.
BTW, it's unnecessary to restore. The only real situation where it applies is if you do not have a different SIM or if you REALLY want to see that 'Congratulations' message.
Restoring hasn't been necessary since 2011.
Apple tells me that the restore process allows the phone to register with them as unlocked that way , never did get a congratulations message , and don't have a different carrier sim a test ??
Looking back at this thread and my comments I have to rephrase what I said. When I think about it further I have a couple questions about your Sprint iPhone 5 replacement getting unlocked experience. Upon further run-ins with the Apple Store and overall Apple policies, I'm not sure what happens in the cases where they allow you to choose from a list of carries when receiving a replacement iphone. Per Apples policy and "by law" as they claim, they have to send the same exact carrier lock policy to the replacement phone that the faulty one had. So in your iphone 5 case, I'm wondering...did you have it internationally unlocked before getting it replaced? I'm thinking you somehow got lucky and the *no domestic* sim unlock applied to Sprint iPhone lock policies somehow slipped through the cracks when the lock policy of the replacement iphone 5 IMEI was applied in apples servers. I'm also confused at the same time, as to why in certain cases we have the choice of a list of carriers to choose lock policies from. If I go into an Apple Store with an unlocked phone, shouldn't they just replace it with an unlocked model? Technically, even if I go into an Apple Store with a Sprint iPhone to get replaced..I can't ask for a different unlock policy as you did in your case. It's automatically applied from what I've come to understand.
Just a few points. Both my old Sprint iPhone 5 and my wife's Sprint iPhone 5 are fully unlocked
Yes, I had asked for international unlocks on these phones some time in late 2014, early 2015 I believe. When that didn't turn in to a full unlock I was unable to move to T-Mobile with those phones.
The loophole you mention has to my knowledge been closed by Sprint. They have even (I've heard) started to relock phones that got fully unlocked this way.
In replacing my wife's 5 I mentioned to the genius when he asked what carrier the phone was on that we no longer had Sprint. That is when he allowed me to choose the carrier.
I specifically asked when I replaced my iPhone 5 if I could choose the carrier as I was no longer with Sprint. The genius informed me that the majority of the time the screen allowing the choice of carrier would come up when the phone was started. She implied that being able to make the choice at this screen was something available to all customers.
Now, I've had my iPhone 5 replaced in the past and this was the very first time I was allowed to make the choice.
Both phones will be five years old in September.
I can only speculate that since these were NOT my primary phones and because they are as old as they are either Apple or it's geniuses just did not really care one way or the other.
When replacing with Apple the mantra has always been you get back what you give them.
Why I was allowed to make this choice twice in the span of a month I do not know. And I suppose it is possible that because I chose Verizon and because they were internationally unlocked anyway I was able to benefit from that. But I just assumed it was Verizon's unlock policy.
However, both phones are unlocked and both are currently on 4G on T-Mobile with their own phone numbers.
I think I may have worded my sentence the wrong way or just made it run on too long. When I brought up the whole "no domestic sim" unlock for Sprint towards iphone 4S and 5 (phones manufactured before feb 2014 date or w/e), I was basically referring to the fact that you had your iphone 5 internationally unlocked, which is the only option. Since the genius scanned that sprint internationally unlocked IMEI in apples database before issuing your replacement, I'm guessing that it picked up the previous phone policy as just being "unlocked" and couldn't detect the fact it was blocked to US sims. I wasn't saying your phone was one of those accidental domestic sprint unlocks before hand, as I don't even believe those claims. How sprint fully unlocked phones and then was able to get them off Apples whitelist after the fact is beyond me. I can't really imagine those claims were true. Just wanted to clear that up. By the way, I'm almost 100% sure it's apple policy and a "law" (as multiple geniuses have told me) that they have to automatically apply the previous carrier lock policy even if it's unlocked, so I can't seem to find the exact reason why some phones give the consumer an option to choose from a carrier list.
Post number one updated to reflect the following…
It has come to my attention today that Sprint is no longer allowing international unlocks for devices still under contract (lease or otherwise). It is an internal policy change not yet reflected in the unlock policy.
The reasoning behind this seems to be that Sprint offers international options on your plan that preclude having to unlock your device.
Seems to me, to be a step back to Sprint's former draconian unlock procedures.
If you are a current Sprint iDevice user this will affect you if you wish to unlock your device for international use.
It has come to my attention today that Sprint is no longer allowing international unlocks for devices still under contract (lease or otherwise). It is an internal policy change not yet reflected in the unlock policy.
The reasoning behind this seems to be that Sprint offers international options on your plan that preclude having to unlock your device.
Seems to me, to be a step back to Sprint's former draconian unlock procedures.
If you are a current Sprint iDevice user this will affect you if you wish to unlock your device for international use.
I hate to necrobump a thread, but I need help.
I recently called Sprint's international number to request an international unlock on an iPhone 5 (hoping to get domestic too) that hasn't been in service for 2 years (I'm assuming that means it's out of contract?), it's been paid off already. Anyways, I called and at first everything seemed to be going well, the rep asked for my imei and said he'd try to request an unlock, then I was put on hold for about 2-3 minutes, when he came back he said "The system won't allow me to unlock the phone because it was purchased before February 2015" and instead gave me a MSL (which I know doesn't apply to iDevices).
Should I call back in a day or two and ask again?
I recently called Sprint's international number to request an international unlock on an iPhone 5 (hoping to get domestic too) that hasn't been in service for 2 years (I'm assuming that means it's out of contract?), it's been paid off already. Anyways, I called and at first everything seemed to be going well, the rep asked for my imei and said he'd try to request an unlock, then I was put on hold for about 2-3 minutes, when he came back he said "The system won't allow me to unlock the phone because it was purchased before February 2015" and instead gave me a MSL (which I know doesn't apply to iDevices).
Should I call back in a day or two and ask again?
This particular thread is maintained by me, so you haven't necroed it.
Regarding your situation, either the rep was confused by your request or there was a miscommunication.
Sprint states that it offers an MSL code for domestic unlock for the iPhone 5 because due to technical limitations (the pairing of your logicboard to your SIM card) they cannot unlock through the normal process.
The problem with this of course is as you know, Apple does not use codes.
The 5 CAN be unlocked internationally, so you need to explain to the rep that an international unlock is ALL you are asking for. They can do that, there is no code involved. Again, MSL only when asking for a domestic unlock.
That aside, it is possible to get the phone fully unlocked but Sprint won't admit it and no one there would know how.
It requires you to be far enough back in the setup process of the phone where you are allowed to choose your carrier. Choosing Verizon causes the phone to apply Verizon's unlock policy and the phone becomes unlocked.
But that option is only available when Apple is replacing an iPhone 5 and allows you to do this.
It's the only way I've found.
Recontact international support and explain to them (again) that all you are asking for is an international unlock only.
You can try your hardest and keep calling in to their outsourced Philippines CSR's until your head explodes, but it's never gonna work. You can unlock it once Premium Sprint unlocking services go back down to about 21$, lol but I doubt they ever will. But I will say Bagel Boy, if you do have success by calling in repeatedly then please post proof to the group. I think they pretty much cracked down to all their CSR's with an internal memo telling them to just play dumb when asked for an unlock. Also, even if you were a Sprint customer and got far enough in the unlock process, every Rep usually asks for the previous owner/customers info..such as account PIN, social security, email, etc.. Best of luck man!