When buying a new iPhone, rarely anyone encounters problems; this threatens only those who prefer to buy the device from their hands or save money on the gray market. But the second category of people may well encounter such a thing as a locked iPhone. We tell you what this means and what ways to solve the problem are.
Table of Contents
What is a locked iPhone
How to check if iPhone is locked
How to unlock a locked iPhone officially
Hardware way to reset iPhone lock
How to untie iPhone through an intermediary
About the unofficial unlocking of a locked phone
How to choose an intermediary for unlocking
conclusions
What is a locked iPhone
In some countries, there is a practice of linking the device to a contract with a mobile operator – this is done in the USA, Australia, Canada and some European countries. This means that the production blocked (lock sim) the ability to use a smartphone with SIM cards from other telecom operators. Such iPhones are called locked, blocked. If you try to use it with a SIM card from another operator, it will report an error, and there will be no connection to the cellular network, you will not be able to make and receive calls.
Locked phones can be significantly cheaper, since the manufacturer pays the difference in price to the manufacturer, but you won’t be able to use such a phone in other countries.
Which countries and operators block the iPhone most often:
USA – AT&T, Sprint, T-mobile, Verizon, Xfinity, Cellular;
UK – Tesco, Orange, T-mobile, Vodafone;
Canada – Flex, SaskTel, Telus, Videotron;
France – Orange, SFR;
Spain – Movistar, Orange, Vodafone;
Israel – Cellcom, Orange, Pelephone;
Germany – O2, T-mobile, Vodafone;
Sweden – Three, Halebop, Telia;
Finland – DNA;
Türkiye – Avea, Turkcell, Vodafone, etc.
During the activation process of a locked phone, the procedure for reading IMSI, a unique code that any SIM card has, is violated. However, there are several ways to unbind iPhone from a specific carrier.
How to check if iPhone is locked
When buying a phone, you can quickly check if there are any problems with blocking SIM cards. For starters, you can check with the seller for information: if he says that the status of the device is sim free, this means that you can insert a card of any operator. If the status is locked, then the phone is tied to the services of a specific operator. All official sellers sell unlocked iPhones.
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