TS3198: iPhone: Troubleshooting authorized unlock issues
Learn about iPhone: Troubleshooting authorized unlock issues
-
All replies
-
Helpful answers
-
May 9, 2012 3:45 PM in response to vverma75by KiltedTim,Look at your receipt. If you purchased it from a legitimate source, then you will know. If you purchased a carrier locked phone, only the carrier can authorize unlocking it.
If you bought it from e-bay or out of the back of a van, it's most likely hacked, stolen, jailbroken, or otherwise compromised.
-
May 10, 2012 7:45 PM in response to KiltedTimby Zarraza,your response is not entirely correct.
recently AT&T has began unlocking devices that are out of contract and in good standing - i would like to know the same thing too, as i started the process with AT&T to get it unlocked then got an email stating that my "ticket is now resolved" but i did a sync today to see if it would pull the info from apple and unlocke, but it still shows AT&T in teh general settings - so....how does one REALLY know it is unlocked?
-
May 10, 2012 7:59 PM in response to Zarrazaby deggie,Did you get a message after connecting to your computer that your phone is now unlocked?
-
May 11, 2012 9:36 AM in response to deggieby Zarraza,i have not yet seen any message like that - that's why i have the same question, how would i know, there has to be a change to carrier settings and shouldn't the phone realize this and make that change in the software to show no carrier specifically in the general settings?
-
May 11, 2012 11:30 AM in response to Zarrazaby iPhone_Warrior,Zarraza wrote:
i did a sync
You need to Restore the phone in iTunes for the unlock to apply.
-
May 21, 2012 9:23 AM in response to iPhone_Warriorby macribas,I did that but didn't receive any message saying the phone was unlocked. Is it really that difficult to confirm your phone is properly unlocked?
-
May 21, 2012 9:30 AM in response to Zarrazaby wegras,try a non AT&T sim
In Europe where carriers have unlocked for years
they always advise completing the unlock by trying a different sim
from the locking carrier
Probably the only way to be sure
-
Jul 5, 2012 6:57 PM in response to vverma75by SWO2Cryppie,I went through this myself. To finish the unlock procedure, you have to go to iTunes and - in precisely this order:
1. FIRST AND FOREMOST, Backup your phone!
2. Go to iTunes with your phone connected via USB Cable, select your iPhone and click on the Restore phone to original settings button. (You are waisting your time if you right click and select Restore from backup at this point.)
3. Wait patiently.
4. You will get a pop-up screen that says Congratulations, Your iPhone is now unlocked.
5. You can now restore your phone from the backup you just made, and you're free to use whatever SIM card you want!
More details can be found here: https://discussions.apple.com/message/18238325#18238325
-
Aug 19, 2012 5:09 PM in response to vverma75by applegirl17,I just did this today and I think the trick is that when you go to restore, you open itunes first and then connect the phone via usb. I restored twice by connecting the iphone to the usb before the itunes was open. This automatically opened itunes. It did the restoe but I did not get any message I had succesfully unlocked the phone, which ATT told me I would. I then tried it for a third time... first, i opened itunes and then connected the phone. At the end of the restore, I gota message saying "Congratulations, you have unsuccesfully unlocked your iphone."
Other than that the ATT instructions worked fine.
Hope this helps
-
Sep 1, 2012 9:50 PM in response to applegirl17by floatingspirit,Way to go applegirl17! You're instructions worked exactly for me. I had the same experience. Thanks!
-
Sep 2, 2012 6:33 AM in response to floatingspiritby applegirl17,Your welcome, I'm glad I was helpful!
-
Sep 5, 2012 6:20 PM in response to applegirl17by pjb0422,So I am trying to go through this process also. I called AT&T and they did their part to unlock my iPhone 4. I connected my iPhone to iTunes, right clicked on my iPhone, did a back up. When that was done, I did a restore by right clicking my iPhone and saying restore from my backup. After that was done, I did not get a message saying my iPhone was unlocked. So I connected my iPhone again, this time I clicked the Restore button on the Summary tab. iTunes said that it had to download the iOS 5.1.1 (which I already had), and then it did a full restore on the iPhone. When it finally finished, still no message. So I unplugged my phone from iTunes, reconnected, did the Restore button again. Still no message.
Have I jacked my unlock? Is there another way to see if my iPhone is unlocked?
-
Sep 5, 2012 6:41 PM in response to pjb0422by applegirl17,A couple of things that I don't think you did correctly...
First make sure that you open iTunes BEFORE you connect the iPhone to your computer. This was where I ran into issues when I first tried unlocking the iPhone. I was connecting the iPhone which would automatically open iTunes and that didn't work. But it did work when I opened iTunes before connecting the phone.
Then you backup and restore to factory settings (not from your own backup). This should unlock your phone and you will get the message that your phone is unlocked. Don't worry about losing your stuff... Once you unlock the phone, you will restore to your backup. Does that make sense?
Hope this helps.
-
Sep 5, 2012 6:56 PM in response to applegirl17by pjb0422,Thanks applegirl17. I did have iTunes open before I connected my iPhone. So I passed that step. I am trying the restore again right now. This time the restsore asked if I wanted to backup first. Maybe this time it will work.
Is the unlock message a one time deal or will it appear each time my iPhone is restored?