Is my phone unlocked?

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After purchasing an Iphone 11 in April and paying in full, the cell provider locked the phone for 12 months. After much aggravation, I got up the ladder to someone who very kindly listened to my long story of woe and was able to unlock the phone. So I am told. Is there a way to determine that it is indeed unlocked?

Color me skeptical……

D

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Open your Settings, tap on Cellular, then Cellular Data Options. Check to see if it says Cellular Data Network and if it does then it’s probably unlocked. If it doesn’t show this it’s most likely locked. This method isn’t always reliable and there are other ways to check if your iPhone is unlocked. Go online with your question in search, you will find videos and websites to help guide you through.

MacOS iPadOS and sometimes SOS

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Nathan Parker, DriftyDonN

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Thank you. Under cellular data options, Roaming Off appears greyed out. Clicking on this gives me Voice&Data – I have to turn  LTE,VoLTE OFF, else i cannot receive incoming calls-sometimes(not often) it will go to voice mail. Data Roaming choice also appears here…OFF   and Lo Data Mode  which is off. I tell you all this FYI in case anyone else w/ Iphone 11 on Boost Mobile (now dish mobile I guess) has this problem. Now I’m off to search the interweb, where I should have gone with my ? first.

Thanks again

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Because you aren’t seeing cellular network listed here doesn’t necessarily mean the iPhone is locked, I mentioned this before. If you were to try and switch carriers the phone would need to be unlocked to do this. You’ve paid the iPhone off in full you said, so your carrier should have unlocked it.

MacOS iPadOS and sometimes SOS

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Nathan Parker

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Thank you for your efforts Myst Appreciate your help in many different categories!

Yes, I understood that it may not be the  definitive answer. I described what I saw because it didn’t quite line up with what you listed, so I thought it must be an older and/or different model. Perhaps others had the same experience and would benefit from what I saw. As an aside, I spoke w/ Boost escalation rep who says she had unlocked the phone. I checked a couple free sites using eisd and found that they dont really keep databases up to date so not very reliable. During our conversation, she said well, if you go to a different provider, the phone may not work. So she backed off that VERY fast when I asked did Apple and Boost collaborate and Apple produced phones that will work ONLY with Boost. Tampered with iphones would explain why wifi calling isn’t supported, and why I have to disable LTE,VoLTE in order to recieve calls. A dumbed down version. I thought Apple was more upstanding than that. I am not saying this is absolutely what happens but why did she bring it into the conversation? We know walmart has specially made machines by Dell and others so it is definately a possibility. I am going to call apple plus and ask about this. Would they admit to it? Who knows? I am trying to find someone who will let me try their sim card which will determine definitively whether it’s locked or not UNLESS the above is actually true. As I type this, I recall a boost support person said exchanging my phone w/ a different one wouldn’t make any difference. the problems would be the same. He wouldn’t explain so now I think I know why.

Moral of the story=ONLY BUY YOUR PHONES FROM THE MANUFACTURER and pay in full.

Feeling ripped off and lied to in Fla.

D

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DriftyDonN wrote:

Yes, I understood that it may not be the  definitive answer. I described what I saw because it didn’t quite line up with what you listed, so I thought it must be an older and/or different model. Perhaps others had the same experience and would benefit from what I saw.

What you wrote here is exactly how I posted the info. You got to the screen for Cellular Data Options and within that you never mentioned any network. So like I said, that still doesn’t mean your iPhone is locked. If you’re concerned whether the info your carrier gave you is in fact correct about your phone being unlocked, you can either go with that or take it to another carrier to see if they can give you any information.

MacOS iPadOS and sometimes SOS

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” I tell you all this FYI in case anyone else w/ Iphone 11 on Boost Mobile (now dish mobile I guess) has this problem.”

You are misunderstanding what I am saying. What you said the first time didn’t appear in my settings, hence according to your post its probably locked. Got that. I then posted what I did see simply fyi because I thought(mistakenly) perhaps your phone wasn’t the same as mine…either model or OS or whatever. I was simply trying to give you information that perhaps you didnt have. I’m sorry you misunderstood my intent. Boost cell service provider and source of the phone said it’s unlocked. I am,was skeptical hence this thread. It seems I am not very adept at communicating what I see and how that tied in with what I was being told. My mistake please excuse me and accept my apologies.

Sincerely Don

end

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A summary of what Myst explained and a different version.

https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/iphone/iphone-locked-3614824/

 

 

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Myst

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As I said, I understood perfectly well what Myst wrote the first time. It was my poor communication skills that are the problem,

As an afterwards to my Initial ?, I spent about an hour with Apple Support and the Tech walked me thru the REST OF THE process that the Boost person didn’t bother to mention. I had to use itunes to  finish the unlocking procedure.

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DriftyDonN wrote:

I had to use itunes to  finish the unlocking procedure.

I’m confused. When you use iTunes to unlock your iPhone aren’t you referring to resetting the passcode because you forgot it and the phone became disabled? There’s a difference between unlocking your phone to reset a passcode and unlocking it in order to switch carriers. Two different issues. There might be more to the story I’m not aware of. Just glad you’re up and running.

MacOS iPadOS and sometimes SOS

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You can plug the iPhone into iTunes to see if it’s unlocked, although the most tried and true method is pop in a SIM card different from your carrier. If it activates, you’re unlocked. If it doesn’t, you still need to hammer them to unlock it.

Nathan Parker

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Myst

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Got it. Learn something new everyday!

MacOS iPadOS and sometimes SOS

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Nathan Parker

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Nathan, I’m curious…you stated you can use itunes to determine the locked or unlocked status of an iphone- how would anyone KNOW that and exactly how to do it?I had to backup the phone, reset the phone to factory conditions,restore the phone, get update and finally restore from backup to get to the unlocked message. Not so easy if you don’t know the algorithm! Itunes is the most miserable piece of software I’ve ever used and after fooling with it for oh since ipod nano 4th gen- I NEVER saw anything in the literature that said that. Of course why would I? I just got an Iphone 2 1/2 months ago. I barely know how to turn the dang thing off! Mostly because I’ve been trying to get some justice from boost for LOCKING it in the first place. I paid full price and never agreed to contracting me for a year by locking the phone to them. And when someone in escalation says they will unlock, well I just wanted to know IF anyone could tell me HOW to verify short of a different sim- I don’t have those laying around. I for one will be glad to see itunes GO IF Apple can replace it with a more easily understood utility. I guess it is a swiss army knife of utilities if you know which buttons to push. Now that I know who to ask about iphones, I will not waste so much time in all the wrong places.

Thanks

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In terms of my comment on SIM cards, you might be able to order one and have it shipped to you. I know the lockdowns are making it difficult to easily get your hands on one (I feel your pain!). I think Page Plus does one for $10 that’s good for three months, but it was years since I last did a test with them.

In iTunes, there’s apparently a way to see the message after doing a restore, but I’ve never successfully gotten the message to appear, even though my iPhone was successfully unlocked when I changed carriers. These articles try to explain it:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3926837

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201328

You could see if Apple Support could possibly tell you as well. Not 100% sure there.

I’ve never had success with any “unlock” messages appearing. I knew it worked when I changed carriers and didn’t have issues changing carriers.

I wish in a future iOS update, Apple would add a simple “Carrier Lock” section to the About page that says “Locked to Carrier X” or “SIM Unlocked”, and on restored iPhones, have it tell after one gets past the “Hello” screen if the iPhone is SIM unlocked or not. How hard could that be to add?

Nathan Parker

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thanks Nathan. I guess you didnt see my post about Apple support walking me thru the process and itunes telling me ” YOUR PHONE IS UNLOCKED”

Seems a couple of my posts are in the ether…….

If someone has sore toes, my apologies.

D

If IOS 14 isn’t ready yet, I’ll wait. Win 1o patches and poor software is bad enough!

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Nathan Parker

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[Alex5723]

DriftyDonN wrote:

short of a different sim- I don’t have those laying around.

Can you ask family member, friend… to give you his SIM just for a minute or two ? It can be any smartphone, tablet.. not necessary iPhone..
It should be nano-sim.

You can also buy the cheapest prepaid sim anywhere.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by Alex5723.

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Nathan Parker

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thanks Alex. I appreciate your input. But no I have no one to ask. And I am in isolation due to covid so I won’t be going around the corner any time soon I fear. I’m OK w/ itunes and apple support getting me the answer. Now to find a decent provider in my area that will support the Iphone in all aspects like wifi calling, LTE capability and so on.

Regards,

D

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Nathan Parker

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It is very simple with iOS 14. If the device is unlocked you get the message : No SIM Restrictions.

On iPhone open Settings.
Go to General and then tap on About.
On the About page look for Network Provider Lock information

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DriftyDonN, Nathan Parker

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yes good to know BUT I’m on 13.6 and upon checking for updates am told I AM upto date. o 14 is beta?

Thanks

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Nathan Parker

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[Alex5723]

iOS 14 is on beta 4. Works great on both my iPhone and iPad. Just join the beta and install.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by Alex5723.

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Is there telemetry in the beta version? I would expect this to be the case, otherwise what use is beta on an external user’s device?

cheers, Paul

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[Alex5723]

No iOS has telemetry, beta included.
You can send logs (in final too) if you wish.
You report bugs found to Apple.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by Alex5723.

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Nathan Parker

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Finally!

Nathan Parker

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In terms of providers, I’ve had the most success with Verizon. Not the cheapest provider, but everything “just works” in terms of coverage, Wi-Fi Calling, etc.

Nathan Parker

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DriftyDonN

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I have a ton of sim cards so even though in isolation easy to test.  I got an iphone from a carrier and its unlocked to all gsm sim cards.  I am on ios13.6.1 so can’t see that nifty screen but its a great idea.  But getting a sim is easy they have them at walmart, target, grocery stores, drug stores, everywhere.  Mint mobile you can order one and they send two, one to test if their network works in your area, another to register and use.

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Nathan Parker

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