Unlocking gifted iphone

[brendanxx]

Hi,
I have an iphone 5s and my son has sent me his old Iphone 8. When I put my sim in the new phone it says it's locked to the old carrier and they have to contract Apple to get the phone unlocked. What can I do? My son has put his old sim card into his new phone and I've got his old phone. Is it true that only Apple can permanently unlock my phone - I read that if I take it to an unlocking shop it'll work but only until its OS is upgraded. Any help most appreciated!

 

[russell_314]

Hi,
I have an iphone 5s and my son has sent me his old Iphone 8. When I put my sim in the new phone it says it's locked to the old carrier and they have to contract Apple to get the phone unlocked. What can I do? My son has put his old sim card into his new phone and I've got his old phone. Is it true that only Apple can permanently unlock my phone - I read that if I take it to an unlocking shop it'll work but only until its OS is upgraded. Any help most appreciated!

To my understanding carrier locks have to be unlocked by the carrier. Now if you mean locked as in activation locked where you can't get into the phone then that's a whole new mess

 

[brendanxx]

No, It's not activation locked! So it has to be unlocked by carrier - but I thought finally it's Apple that unlocks it when the carrier asks it to. But in my case I no longer have the carrier's sim card and that sim card is now in another phone. Can my son contact the carrier and explain the situation and have them contact Apple even though their sim card is no longer in the phone? It's SO complicated that perhaps it's easier simply to bin the gifted phone and carry on with my old one!

 

[C DM]

No, It's not activation locked! So it has to be unlocked by carrier - but I thought finally it's Apple that unlocks it when the carrier asks it to. But in my case I no longer have the carrier's sim card and that sim card is now in another phone. Can my son contact the carrier and explain the situation and have them contact Apple even though their sim card is no longer in the phone? It's SO complicated that perhaps it's easier simply to bin the gifted phone and carry on with my old one!

Contacting the carrier would be a good first step to try to get this figured out.

 

[jetsam]

No, It's not activation locked! So it has to be unlocked by carrier - but I thought finally it's Apple that unlocks it when the carrier asks it to. But in my case I no longer have the carrier's sim card and that sim card is now in another phone. Can my son contact the carrier and explain the situation and have them contact Apple even though their sim card is no longer in the phone? It's SO complicated that perhaps it's easier simply to bin the gifted phone and carry on with my old one!

You don't need the original carrier's SIM card (or any SIM card) in the phone to unlock it. Your son will need to contact the carrier to which the phone is locked and request an unlock of the phone. If the carrier approves, it will contact Apple and Apple will unlock the phone.

More info:

How to unlock your iPhone for use with a different carrier - Apple Support

Unlocking your iPhone means that you can use it with different carriers.

support.apple.com