I asked AT&T to unlock my iPhone 5S last week and was told no because the phone was still under contract. Just now I connected with iTunes on my MacBook Air, did a restore and got the message "Congratulations, your phone has been unlocked." How can I now check to confirm that the phone is truly now unlocked? Will the Verizon SIM from my iPad work as a test in the iPhone?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Suddenly Unlocked?
- Thread starter PTVMan
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
If you got the message and if iphoneimei says you're unlocked, then you're definitely unlocked. No need to check it.
I bought my verizon 5s, checked the above website that reported it was unlocked. I was surprised.
I used their online unlock site, was denied there, and then did an online chat with a rep who also said I could not get my phone unlocked. I'm certain it was locked when I bought it on day one, but somehow through my requests/conversations with AT&T the phone is 'magically' unlocked.
The unlock request site for AT&T is here:
https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/client/en_US/termsAndCondition
Nothing surprising about that as Verizon iPhone 5/5S comes factory unlocked for GSM networks
Go to ....../Setting/General/About
Scroll down to CARRIER
If it says " AT&T 14.2 " it is probably still locked.
If it says "AT&T 15.5 " it is most likely unlocked.
When I unlocked an iPhone 4 it went from 14.2 to 15.5
Have not tried the " other sim card " test yet.
Scroll down to CARRIER
If it says " AT&T 14.2 " it is probably still locked.
If it says "AT&T 15.5 " it is most likely unlocked.
When I unlocked an iPhone 4 it went from 14.2 to 15.5
Have not tried the " other sim card " test yet.
Did you think it could have been a possibility that AT&T updated their carrier files? *shrug*
If I had not gotten the " Congratulations Your iPhone Is Now Unlocked " message when I did the Restore I might have thought that.
Not to mention the AT&T Tech Support person who was on the other phone helping me with the unlock of this phone.
This phone was a new replacement from Apple and getting it unlocked was not as easy as one that came from an AT&T store. So I had to call AT&T and they had to call Apple because according to them Apple had not transferred the phone to AT&T yet.
I have another iPhone 4 yet to be unlocked and it is going to require the same process. I got a text from AT&T saying they would be calling me on Monday to go through the process with the second phone. That IMEI site says the second phone, like the first one is Carrier: Unassigned Factory <--- this is why AT&T cannot unlock the phone even though it is over a year out of contract.
The downside to the process was you have to Restore the iPhone to unlock it and at the same time you are forced to upgrade IOS to version 7.
I have three more iPhones to get unlocked, so I can sell them off and move on to something new.
I'm just glad to be out from under the contract, so I can shop other carriers for a better deal.
Last edited:
Verizon iPhones that support LTE have to be factory unlocked from the beginning due to a regulation that was part of an agreement that was in place for some spectrum purchases that Verizon did. Not surprising that they would in fact be unlocked.
AT&T 15.5 here. Went to the website out of curiosity and no, my 5S is not unlocked. Doesn't really matter to me (yet), but it would've been nice.
Yeah I check all five of my iPhones ....
2 of them are unlocked
3 of them still locked
Contracts up on all of them a over a year ago.
We were waiting to see if Apple would bring out a phone with a workable screen size and they haven't.
Back when we got the iPhone 4's the screen size was adequate .... but now three years later we need bigger.
Once all are unlocked they will be put on Ebay and we will be on new phones by then.
That is curious. my iPhone 5s also says its carrier and sim unlocked.
I did pay $550 for it since i wasn't eligible for an upgrade from the 5 i had, but it was still slightly subsidized.
----------
good to know, mine says AT&T 15.5
