I got an iPhone 5 couple months back on eBay but before I bought it, it was on AT&T. The guy who I got it from said he would unlock it if I bought it (Which I did). Ever since then my phone has been working fine... Until now. My home button is not working and I'm planning to take it to the apple store today. But before I take it I wanna know if apple will give me a new unlocked iPhone or will I be getting an AT&T iPhone 5 and have to unlock it myself?
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Will I be getting an unlocked iPhone 5?
- Thread starter kobe24izzy
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if it was officially unlocked by a proper carrier or apple themselves then yes, i suggest you get them to make sure when doing the swap though.
if it wasn't an official unlock, then most likely no, the unlock would not transfer because the unlock wouldn't be registered by with apple's system.
Second party unlocks are however common, and cheap. Had my iPhone 5 unlocked before leaving New York 2 months ago. Left my iPhone for an afternoon at the shop, picked it up at 6pm. It cost me $20, and the thing works like a charm.
Those generally wont be carried over to the new phone, however. Only unlocks entered into iTunes by the original carrier are carried over to the new handset.
Yes, true, I was simply putting out that iPhones are in fact pretty simple to unlockthink this might help the thread starter!
Funny thing is, At&t sent me to that Manhattan shop, I was quite surprised. When I asked the guy at the counter how he could get At&t to send me here, he simply answered: "don't ask" and winked his eye.
That is false.
Those unlocks are still carried over to the replacement phone also.
Ask many people that got their iphone unlocked by unlock fusion/swiftunlocks and they will confirm.
Swift unlocks/unlock fusion are done by a carrier (albeit unofficially). If he had to leave it with the shop this suggests that it wasn't an IMEI unlock.
True, but again we don't know what they did when he left it there.
They could just IMEI unlocked it using swiftunlocks for $2 and then charged him $20
I think the take gone point here is that it is likely an official unlock, but we can't be sure. Isn't there a way to check a serial online or something?
Not reliably. Apple stores can tell you once they've put the serial in, and I believe AppleCare can do the same thing.
So wouldn't that be the safest bet then? Seems like the answer to the OP's worries.
I took my unlocked AT&T iPhone 5 to the apple store a few weeks ago to get replaced. The home/sleep button stopped working. They replaced it no problem. I was worried I wouldn't get one that was unlocked back since I bought my unlock through swift unlocks.
Anyway, I restored the phone and nothing. No screen that said your iPhone is unlocked or anything. I bought another imei unlock and still, nothing in iTunes when I restore.
Today, my sister brought me her t-mobile nano sim to try and sure enough, The iPhone 5 is unlocked. Everything worked. But why wouldn't I get the unlocked message in iTunes like before? Did they change things? I was able to place calls and grab the new t-mobile carrier settings and everything. What gives?
Anyway, I restored the phone and nothing. No screen that said your iPhone is unlocked or anything. I bought another imei unlock and still, nothing in iTunes when I restore.
Today, my sister brought me her t-mobile nano sim to try and sure enough, The iPhone 5 is unlocked. Everything worked. But why wouldn't I get the unlocked message in iTunes like before? Did they change things? I was able to place calls and grab the new t-mobile carrier settings and everything. What gives?
They absolutely will as it is an official unlock. It just wasn't done officially but apple's system has no way of knowing that. These things are done by people that work for the cell carriers not some Russian hacking club.